Pensioner making a stand over housing

AN 81-year-old resident of a Ticehurst sheltered accommodation complex has vowed to lie down across the road to stop developers from pulling it down.

John Parks, who moved into Woodroffe Lodge five years ago, is one of five remaining residents who are being turfed out.

He said: "We don't want to move. None of us want to move.

"I will lie down across the front road to stop them pulling this place down."

In 2007 Rother Homes, which owns Woodroffe Lodge, announced they would move out any residents requiring extra care to nearby care home Newington Court with a view to eventually shutting the site.

The remaining residents in the 18-unit block were told the lodge, which has no lift and is unsuitable for wheelchair access, was to be closed as it could not be modernised to meet required standards.

Now Rother Homes, a registered provider of social housing, has confirmed the remaining residents will be moved to a new block of nine flats across the road in Springfields, for which planning permission is due to be submitted.

Following a meeting on Monday at Woodroffe Lodge with Amicus Horizon officers, Mr Parks has accepted he will have to move, but was disappointed in the way the process had been handled.

"We are still angry we have got to go and still disappointed we have got to go, but we more or less accept it.

"Of course half the residents who were here when they first told us have gone.

"Three died and two have been moved to Newington Court since 2007.

"Originally when it was first decided we could hardly believe it."

Speaking at a Ticehurst Parisch Council meeting earlier this month a development director at Amicus Horizon, Mark Miles-Lea, spoke to councillors to update them on the plans for the site. He was unable to give promises about the future of the site, but admitted that, while the idea of selling the building had been considered, it was no longer an option.

"Although we have shelved the idea of selling it we need to find a solution. At this stage we don't have a solution and we would want to come and discuss the future of the site when we have options available," he told the council.

He also confirmed the five residents would be given first options on the new flats at Springfields, but beyond that no criteria for choosing residents had been set.

There is a belief in the village that it is written into a contract produced by the previous owner Violet Woodroffe that the site must remain available for housing the elderly.

Work is being carried out by members of Ticehurst parish council to recover this, but proof of the document has not yet been found.