PS

Many of the concerns expressed about the creation of a hostel werent necessarily all of the NIMBY variety - there are genuine concerns about the lack of communal and general family facilities within the current proposals and also safeguarding which is compromised when families have to share toilet and bathroom facilities with complete strangers.

I write and speak as a former manager of homeless hostels for families in Lewisham. The client group then was a very mixed bag but we did have pimps and arsonists and schizophrenics as well as hardened criminals from Londons gangland sharing close quarters with young children and often vulnerable young mothers resulting often in an extremely explosive mix. Lets hope Lewisham have learned from experience and are putting in place adequate safeguarding and support measures for such families.