Local authority faces JR proceedings over sheltered housing sell-off

A local authority is facing judicial review proceedings over its plans to shut down sheltered housing complexes, it has been reported.

The Daily Gazette said residents hoped to stop Colchester Borough Council’s sale of Joyce Brooks House and Abbeygate House.

The local authority wants to use the funds released from the sale – estimated at £1.6m – to refurbish other sheltered housing complexes.

Bobby Hunt, one of the residents at Joyce Brooks House, told the Gazette: “It is always a sad day when elderly and disabled people have to ask a judge to consider whether the people they elected have failed to consider their needs.”

Hunt said the residents’ preference was not to have to move. If this is not possible, they want the council to find them accommodation allowing them move together.

A petition with 4,146 signatures protesting about the sales was recently handed to Colchester’s Mayor.

Cllr Tim Young, councillor responsible for housing, told the Gazette that the council had been “half expecting” the judicial review.

“However, I don’t think it affects the decision we made and we feel confident it will not come to anything,” he said, adding that the decision would stand and the council would continue to market the homes.