3:00pm Thursday 4th February 2010
By Paul Offord
RESIDENTS are relieved a house they suspected was being used as a bail hostel is now empty.
The last occupants have now moved out of the six-bedroom home, in Castle View Road, Canvey.
Two years ago, the Echo reported it had been taken over by Southend-based company Cresswell Services.
At the time, the company claimed rumours it had been turned into a bail hostel were wide of the mark, and it was actually being used as temporary shelter for homeless people.
This was still controversial as the house is in a cul-de-sac, full of large houses and relatively wealthy residents.
Residents and Castle Point MP Bob Spink spoke of their relief the house is now empty, as they claimed it had attracted troublemakers.
One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “Our main problem was we were never told what was going on in that house.
“There were all sorts of different characters going in and out, and you would get police dropping people off outside there late at night.
“The original owners moved out a long time ago and I think they were renting the house out to whoever was running the hostel.”
Another resident recalled how it had been mostly teenagers living there at first.
However, she thought the last person to leave was a disabled older man, who needed Meals on Wheels deliveries.
Dr Spink said: “If it has closed then I’m absolutely delighted, and I’m sure the residents must feel relieved.
“It attracted a lot of trouble.
“If we are going to have hostels in the middle of a residential area, residents must be properly consulted first.”
Chief Insp Keith Davies, of Castle Point police, said: “The house was never used as a bail hostel. It was a home for homeless people from Basildon.
“We were only called to there on a negligible number of occasions.”
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