DETAILED plans for a controversial drug and alcohol rehabilitation hostel in Ulverston have been unveiled.

Workington-based Impact Housing is planning to open the hostel at 7, Benson Street, by September this year. It was originally planned for number three but the sale of that house fell through.

Once open it will house six recovering drug and alcohol abusers. Each will have their own room as well as some shared facilities. It will be managed by the charity, Turning Point, which was set up almost 40 years ago and is the largest care provider in the country, managing 180-simlar schemes.

Senior resource manager Mark Barrett said the people who would live in the hostel would have to meet very strict assessment criteria before being accepted. Mr Barrett said the charity had also agreed to staff it 24-hours a day following numerous complaints from neighbours when plans for the first hostel were announced.

"People can't just knock on the door on Wednesday and say I have just given up drugs and then move in on Friday. They will have already had some treatment and will have a key worker who visits them two or three times a week as well as a member of staff in the house 24-hours a day," he said.

Turning Point helps more than 80,000 people a year. As well as recovering drug users the majority of them addicted to class A drugs such a heroine - disabled people, those with mental health problems and learning disabilities will also access the service.

Mr Barrett explained that the organisation dealt with drug problems from the grass routes level in a bid to stop people turning to them again.

"We find out why they used to take drugs and help them deal with the problem. Most people who have had a problem have had no consistency in their lives and that is what we give them. We help them settle back into the community by helping them find work or receive training. We also help with simple things that many people take for granted such as budgeting, paying bills and cooking."

Similar schemes are already up and running in Penrith and Workington. Until now users from Furness and South Lakeland have had to move to access the service. "I have worked for the charity for ten years and I have never experienced any problems with neighbours or anything else," said Mr Barrett.

Benson Street is not the only project Impact Housing is involved in, in Ulverston. In June, Impact Housing, which only operates in Cumbria but owns 2,500 properties, is to take over the supported housing scheme currently run by Ulverston-based organisation The Granary. The 12 flats on Little Union Street and Quay Street are used by young, vulnerable people on a temporary basis, up to two years.

Director of operation for Impact housing, Keith Dobson, said: "People are already living in the flats but we have been given money from South Lakeland District Council to renovate them. It is only people who have a local connection and cannot cope on their own who live there and we provide help and support."

May 1, 2003 13:30