Hostel has to tell the truth

Among those with no idea were councillors, parents of children at nearby Poppleton Road Primary School, and school governors.

The change was discussed at a regular residents' liaison meeting, but only a handful of people attended. North Yorkshire's assistant chief probation officer Martin Murphy today excused the lack of wider consultation by saying: "We didn't think it would be such a big deal."

Strange. Less than a decade ago, the proposal to turn the former Alexanders Hotel into a bail hostel provoked furious and prolonged protests by local residents.

At that time, probation officers made much of the fact that most of those using the hostel were innocent until proven otherwise. So a change to allow convicted criminals to stay was bound to cause anger, fear and resentment.

Is it possible that the Probation Service remembered the previous storm only too vividly, and slipped the news out quietly to prevent a reccurrence?

If so, that decision has rebounded on them. To have kept local people in the dark was wrong. People have a right to know that an institution in their neighbourhood could now house convicted murderers and child abusers. They have a right to know as taxpayers, as residents and, above all, as parents.

It is outrageous that someone applying to convert a shop into an office has to make their plans known to all and sundry, yet this critical change of use has hardly been publicised.

Now the news is out, parents are naturally worried about the safety of their children. Reassurances about detailed risk assessments of individuals staying at the hostel will do little to calm those fears, particularly in the light of recent events.

It is time to call a public meeting to give residents the long overdue opportunity to voice their feelings, and to hear the Probation Service's side of the story.

Updated: 10:39 Tuesday, September 10, 2002