10 reasons
10 good reasons to oppose the proposed lease of Trajan House by the Probation Service:
- Mill Street, Millbank, Gibbs Crescent and surrounding streets are residential areas, dominated by vulnerable groups such as young children and older residents. A large probation centre is not appropriate for a residential area, particularly where sole access is along a narrow street.
- A large probation service would have convicted criminals reporting into the area from outside Oxford (such as Bicester, Banbury & Abingdon). Probationers would be reporting here from courts across Oxfordshire but also from the Crown/Magistrates Court, some distance away. Probation services are normally adjacent to courts for efficiency.
- The proposal would worsen traffic congestion, pollution and road safety on a no-through road with sole access through a narrow terraced street.
- Crime would inevitably increase and put at risk vulnerable residents such as children, older residents and young people. Hundreds of unaccompanied convicted criminals per week would be reporting here (e.g. child sex, violence or dishonesty offences) having been released from prison on licence or as part of their sentencing.
- The cost of policing the area and need for extra security (CCTV) outside Oxford City Centre will go up significantly in a residential area, where people are already concerned about anti-social behaviour. We doubt this, carbon costs or costs to the taxpayer has been factored into any financial analysis of the proposal.
- The route from the courts to Mill Street is difficult to find for those with Sat nav, and even more complex by foot. The pedestrian route would take them past or near to at least two nurseries (Little Scholars and St Thomas’). What happens if probationers get lost?
- The proposal represents a significant carbon cost for large numbers of probationers and staff travelling from other probation services which would be closed. The proposal results in job losses to other areas such as Banbury at a time when jobs are scarce in those areas. The taxpayer will have to pay the higher costs of train or other travelling costs for probationers.
- The West End of Oxford is in the process of regeneration and redevelopment. The siting of a large Probation Service close to this development (with access from the courts taking probationers directly through the development), will undermine the West End project and deter investors.
- Most unfairly of all, the local residents and others with an interest in the area have not been consulted at all on this proposal. The most we have been offered is consultation after the lease is signed, which amounts to no consultation at all. Local residents face the prospect of feeling unsafe on their own street and in their own homes, of the security and value of their property deteriorating.
- Not on Mill Street – it doesn’t make any sense!
Mill Street Residents Against Proposed Probation Centre (MSRAPC) 30 March 2009