(2) how many bail hostels (a) are planned and (b) were set up in the last year for which records are available in (i) Castle Point constituency and (ii) Essex.
The accommodation provided by ClearSprings for defendants on bail and for offenders released on Home Detention Curfew is not hostel accommodation, but normal residential housing with up to five people sharing. The houses are the private rented homes of those occupying them. It is not appropriate to consult the public about where those released from prison, or bailed by the Courts to live in their own homes, may live. ClearSprings is required to consult the police, probation and local authority about the location of the housing they provide. It is our policy to seek planning permission for approved premises, which are hostels.
No ClearSprings housing for the Bail Accommodation and Support Service has been established in Castle Point or elsewhere in Essex. However, the Regional Offender Manager for East of England has asked ClearSprings to source properties as soon as possible in or near Chelmsford (three beds), Colchester (three beds), Harlow (four beds) and Southend (two x three beds). It is expected that there will also be a need to find a property in the Basildon area in future.