While we wait for Precision Care to make their minds up about their final plans for this property, here is a summary of the known events to date:

Sept. 2006 - Precision Care applied to Bromley Council for a Certificate of Lawfulness to use 247 Southlands Road as a "Therapeutic home for a maximum of four children who may have been abused and/or have some psychological condition as well as eating disorders or neglect".

Nov. 2006 - Certificate of Lawfulness granted to Precision Care.

22 May 2007 - Application submitted by Precision Care to Ofsted for registration of this facility. (This information was not disclosed by Precision Care, but obtained by us later, using the Freedom of Information Act).

4 July 2007 - A Public Meeting held in Colchester to oppose Precision Care's plans to open a similar facility there. During the course this meeting, Wil Sloan, Precision Care's Director of Operations for Children's Services, was asked about a home in Bromley called Atlanta  House, which was due to be opened later that month.

The questioner quoted from Precision Care's website, which stated that this would be "a home for young adolescent boys who are part of the 'looked after' system and for whom fostering or other forms of on-going care is proving problematic or unsuitable. The home will be managed using therapeutic child care principles and we expect to work with and care for the most troubled and troublesome young people.... Our admission criteria will specifically include young people who are risk of offending, those who are about to be discharged from Secure conditions or those young people who are to be remanded on Bail to a facility approved by the Local Authority".

In response, Wil Sloan is quoted as saying that "this was a specific home where they would be working with people on licence i.e. Young Offender Institutions would release young people back into the community and they would be placed at Atlanta House until they could prove that they could integrate into society again". He is also quoted as stating that "Precision Care had worked closely with the neighbours of Atlanta House and had held similar meetings such as that in Colchester to assure the Bromley community about the purpose of the home".

Upon being challenged that local residents in Bromley had been contacted by the Colchester group and had no knowledge of the proposed use, Wil Sloan stated that "a Certificate of Lawfulness had been issued and that no consultation was needed and that there was no need for them to explain themselves. They had chosen not to consult residents until the Ofsted registration was complete".

(At the time of writing, Precision Care have not initiated any discussions with local residents).

5 July 2007 - A concerned local resident, upon hearing about what had been said at the Colchester meeting, phoned Wil Sloan. He was repeatedly assured that "a decision on whether to apply for Ofsted registration of Atlanta House had yet to be made". (This was subsequently proved to be a blatant lie).

8 July 2007 - An initial meeting of local residents was held, at which very strong disapproval of Precision Care's plans was voiced. An ad hoc Committee of four was established to co-ordinate opposition to these plans.

9 July 2007 - Precision Care's website was amended, removing all reference to caring for "troubled and troublesome young people".

10 July 2007 - A website, www.yourbickley.co.uk , was set up in order to keep residents informed of developments.

10 July 2007 - Contact made with our three Ward Councillors - Gordon Jenkins, Catherine Rideout and Colin Bloom.  All committed to give their full support to opposing the opening of this facility in a "totally inappropriate location".

17 July 2007 - Question submitted to meeting of Bromley Council's Public Protection & Safety Department expressing concern about the proposed facility brought about a response that "the Council Members were very concerned by the situation and displeased with the way Precision Care had handled the application, appearing not to have considered the implications for local people". They further added that "this situation had had not been brought about by the Council and was not proposed to meet the needs of Bromley young people".

25 July 2007 - Committee members met our MP, Bob Neill, and were given commitment of his full support for this cause.

26 July 2007 - At a meeting requested by Councillor Gordon Jenkins, Precision Care's representatives, Wil Sloan and Ashley Manoff, Director, were asked what their plans were for this facility. They said that "they had never had any intention of opening a facility for 'troubled and troublesome boys' and disingenuously claimed that this was a misunderstanding created by their recently departed Managing Director, who had decided to open homes of this type without their agreement. (Wil Sloan was unable to explain his comments made to the Colchester meeting, when he had both advocated and defended this very policy!). The Councillors and Committee members strongly voiced their opposition any facility to be run at this location by Precision Care, due to the ill-feeling created by their lack of any communication and by their duplicity in applying to house one category of children while intending all along to house a completely different group. Precision Care then committed to reconsider their options and to revert to Councillor Jenkins within 2 weeks to advise whether they would proceed with plans to open a facility in line with their original application to Bromley Council or abandon their plans altogether and sell the property. Councillor Jenkins strongly advised them to take the latter option.

31 July 2007 - Question submitted to meeting of Bromley Council's Children's and Young People's Department asking whether the Council would use Atlanta House brought the response that "it is highly unlikely that Bromley children would be placed in such a facility". The Director of the department further confirmed that Bromley Council are planning to increase the number of specialist foster care  placements, which will reduce the reliance on residential care places such as this. Bromley has "no requirement or need to purchase any places in a residential setting of this type".

31 July 2007 - Bromley News Shopper publishes article about local opposition to Precision Care and their constantly changing plans for Atlanta House.

1 August 2007 - Bromley Times publishes similar article expressing local concerns about Precision Care.

6 August 2007 - Precision Care sent e-mail to Councillor Jenkins, advising him that they need more time to reach a decision.

7 August 2007 - Committee sent e-mail to Precision Care in response, asking for reasons for their delaying any decision, contrary to the commitment they gave on 26 July to give a definitive response within 2 weeks.

8 August 2007 – Precision care responded by e-mail that “their commitment was to get back to us with a decision within 2 weeks and the decision of their Board is to consider matters further”! They gave no reason for this delay. They stated that they do not have any outstanding applications with Ofsted for the registration of a home at Atlanta House.

14 August 2007 – Committee responded by e-mail: “Your inability, or unwillingness, to honour the commitment you gave at the meeting on 26 July comes as no surprise to us, as it is totally in keeping with the manner in which you have conducted yourselves thus far. We believe that it is in everybody’s interests to decide on this issue as soon as possible and shall, on behalf of and together with the wider community, maintain an active interest in it until a decision is made”.

It appears clear to the Committee that Precision Care’s aim is to delay matters long enough for the opposition to them and their plans to die down. We shall continue to remind them of  the strength of local feeling against them. You can assist by calling, or writing to, Wil Sloan to make your feelings known. His contact details are:

Wil Sloan
Precision Care Ltd
Copper House
88 Snakes Lane East
Woodford Green
Essex, IG8 7HX
 
Telephone: 020 8506 5790
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