Golders Green residents furious over plan for young offenders unit on their street - The Jewish Chronicle

Golders Green residents have lodged over 150 complaints about the council’s plan to open a young offenders unit in a terraced house on their street.

The application by Barnet Council relates to a property on Hamilton Road, home to a number of kosher supermarkets and many young Jewish families.

The council has applied to turn the property from a house of multiple occupancy to a secure accommodation unit for up to five young people aged between 16 and 17.

If the application is approved the house could be used “for the provision of secure residential accommodation, including use as a prison, young offenders' institution, detention centre, secure training centre, custody centre, short-term holding centre, secure hospital, secure local authority accommodation or use as military barracks,” according to the government's website.

Barnet is proposing to spend up to £2 million on the property to make the changes necessary to accommodate young offenders.

A neighbour and a father of three young children told the JC: "This is an area dominated by young families with young children.

“Locals are furious. They feel this is a direct attack by our local authority who are acting against the interests of local residents.

“I am afraid for the safety of my children and family. The juveniles will have received sentences averaging 6-8 months. These are not sentences that get handed down for trivial offences. They are reserved only for serious crimes.”

The father said residents were even more concerned after the “council wrote to us refusing to rule out sexual offenders, violent offenders and gang members”.

“They have refused to listen to our concerns and are determined to push this ill-conceived scheme through planning," he said.

“A terraced house is totally unsuitable to be used as a custody facility."

The council’s application has had more than 150 complaints and comments about it online.

Another resident of Hamilton Road wrote on the website: "The council already perceives the street as having a drug problem - the proposal would not only inhibit improving this but will likely also inhibit the juvenile's hope for rehabilitation.

“There are two primary schools very close by and the proposal would totally unacceptably put the school pupils’ safety at risk.

“The house intended for use is terraced with limited if any visibility from the rear with potential possibility for the juveniles to access the neighbouring shops including Brent Cross shopping Centre and Tesco.

“The house cannot be sufficiently secure as required for its proposed purpose.”

It appears to be the first time a residential house has been put forward to detain offenders and it is not known if the application is part of a new Department for Justice scheme.

A council spokesperson said: “We can’t comment on the application at this stage, but all comments will be considered as part of the Planning process.”

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