'We will not back down' PROTEST: Campaigners vow to fight plans for secure unit.Byline: By Emma Cullwick CHIEF REPORTER CAMPAIGNERS staged a protest against plans to open a medium secure unit for convicted criminals in Birmingham - and vowed they will not give up their fight. More than 100 protesters brandished placards outside the site of the proposed facility at the former Yardley Green Hospital in Bordesley Green Bordesley Green is an inner-city area of Birmingham, England about two miles south-east from the city centre. It is also a ward in the formal district of Hodge Hill. Neighbouring areas include, Alum Rock, Saltley, Small Heath and Yardley. . It comes after the campaigners, known as The Safer Communities Group, took their fight to Downing Street Downing Street, Westminster, London, England. On the street are the British Foreign Office and, at No. 10, the residence of the first lord of the Treasury, who is usually (although not necessarily) the prime minister of Great Britain. in January, urging Prime Minister Gordon Brown to pull the plug on the proposals to build the 85-bed all-male unit. Yesterday's protest was one of a string of demonstrations staged by the group since Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Unit first announced the plans in 2006. The campaigners say the unit, which will house criminals including sex offenders from as far away as Herefordshire, is too close to 15 nurseries, junior and infant schools in the area. Mother-of-five Habbir Khattak, aged 33, who lives close to the proposed unit, said: "We will not give up our fight and this latest demonstration was a taste of what's to come. "We will protest time and time again if necessary and next time we will bring thousands of people to demonstrate. "A medium secure unit is a facility for men, that, in the words of the health trust, are a danger to themselves and others. "The type and nature of the offences that these men will have committed will include arson, murder, rape and child abuse. "The treatment regime for the men in the unit will mean that they will be slowly released back into the community to be treated in safe houses, yet the site for the unit is surrounded by fifteen schools and nurseries." She said she felt the concerns of local residents had never been taken into account. "The health trust, despite a 100 per cent opposition from the local community, carried on regardless," she added. She said Birmingham City Council failed to scrutinise Verb 1. scrutinise - to look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail; "he scrutinized his likeness in the mirror" scrutinize, size up, take stock the proposals and as a result youngsters in the area will lose an ecology park, which is used to educate them about the environment. Last July, MP Roger Godsiff Roger Duncan Godsiff (born June 28, 1946) is a British Labour Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath since 1992. Roger Godsiff was born in London and educated at the Catford Comprehensive School. (Lab, Sparkbrook and Selly Oak Selly Oak is an area in south Birmingham, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Selly Oak is a parliamentary constituency; its member of Parliament is Dr Lynne Jones. ) urged the Government to block the planned facility during a Commons debate. CAPTION(S): PROTEST... residents of Bordesley Green and members of the Safer Communities Group. Pictures John Reavenall Photo ref: JR010408Demo-2; SITE... the car park where the secue unit has been planned. Photo ref: JR010408Demo-8 |
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