CHAIRMAN of trustees Nick Pannell answers those who say the Leonard Stocks centre in Torquay should be closed or moved elsewhere.
“The Leonard Stocks hostel in Factory Row which opened in 1991 houses 29 people, most with complex needs which cannot be easily met in any other setting. The devastating consequences of drug and alcohol addiction, often rooted in mental disorder, make independent living nigh impossible.
Factory Row is the last safety net, the only door off the street for so many. It has prevented numerous deaths.
Every town centre has its drinkers and drug users. You cannot stop people with a shared “interest” congregating unless you enforce levels of social control which we in this country rightly reject.
A few years ago, elected Mayor Gordon Oliver, tried to withdraw funding from the hostel in Factory Row. Interestingly the police objected, standing with the Friends of Factory Row, local churches and community groups to argue that the hostel was part of the solution to rough sleeping, and resulting anti-social behaviour, not the cause.
And if critics stepped inside the hostel and saw the wonderful work underway to rehabilitate men and women from all walks of life whose lives have fallen apart and hear their stories of recovery, they would be less swift to judge the place.
Close the hostel without creating a similar facility and homelessness will become much more visible around Torbay – encampments of rough sleepers will spring up all over the place (pictured). Closing the hostel may solve one problem but it could create a dozen others.
So the solution is not closure but zero tolerance of anti-social behaviour around it. Hostel staff work closely with town centre police to achieve this. Police commissioner Alison Hernandez is deploying extra police in the area to crowd out the criminal element and enforce local bylaws.
The Leonard Stocks centre is a purpose built-hostel which has been saving lives for 30 years. It is easy to close something, very difficult to re-instate it.