Opposition to Thundersley child care home proposal

PLANS to turn a house into a home for troubled adolescents have met with fierce opposition from residents. Castle Point Council has received 30 letters objecting to an application to convert 459 Rayleigh Road, Thundersley, into a home for six or seven children.

Residents fear a children’s home would lead to antisocial behaviour, noise and damage to properties.

One man in his sixties who lives in Thorndale, which runs behind Rayleigh Road, said: “It was like a kick in the teeth when we heard. We moved here to enjoy a quiet retirement and now this.

“The place is not suitable for a children’s home. There is hardly any garden and it is on a busy main road.”

But Roger Taylor, who owns the house and put in the application, says his neighbours are over reacting.

His home was on the market when a representative from Potton Homes, which runs a similar children’s home in Thorney Bay Road, Canvey, came to view it.

The firm offered to buy the property if it had planning permission for a children’s home.

A letter claiming young people living at the Thorney Bay Road home were making residents lives hell has been sent to homes in Rayleigh Road and neighbouring streets of Thorndale and Deerhurst.

It claims the young people engage in sexual acts in the back garden, drink and take drugs, and swear and shout at passers by.

A 77-year-old woman, who lives in Thorndale, said: “We get the feeling they’re going to be disruptive children. This is a quiet little cul-de-sac.”

But Mr Taylor said: “The letter is scaremongering. If it doesn’t get planning permission we will put it back on the market.”

Potton Homes has insisted young people with a history of violence or antisocial behaviour will not live at the address.

Director Sue Potton said in a letter to Castle Point Council: “All of our young people are vulnerable and will be placed with us to learn life skills, so that they can live independently, or will be young people whose parents need respite.

“We will not be taking young people who have a history of violence or who display antisocial behaviour. We supervise out children at all times, and there is rigid monitoring of us by Ofsted as well as social services.”

The company declined to comment to the Echo.