In February, we were made aware of Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelters (FCENS) intention to consult on plans to lease the North Chingford Methodist Church on Station Road to provide 14 single rooms 24/7, 365 days a year for the homeless. We understand they also intend to run a drop-in centre, Monday to Friday.
The FCENS team held a public drop-in session on Tuesday 25th February at the North Chingford Methodist Church which was well attended by residents across North Chingford.
We want to start by acknowledging the incredible work the Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter (FCENS) has done in transforming lives at its current home in the YMCA, opposite the Town Hall.
However, we have significant concerns that the proposed relocation to North Chingford Methodist Church lacks the necessary facilities and external agency support to adequately assist individuals who may be turned away from the premises. If a homeless person presents to the shelter and does not fit the criteria for housing, they will be refused and signposted to services that simply do not exist in the local vicinity. We believe the current location, opposite the Town Hall, provides users who are refused access with the ability to quickly and easily find additional services that can assist them. Those services do not currently exist in North Chingford, and there are no plans to provide them.
We also recognise that these premises were was once a thriving community asset, home to dance schools and a nursery. At a time when North Chingford has a shortage of community space available for hire, it is disappointing that the Methodist Church does not appear to have explored returning it to wider community use. Following the meeting we wrote to the Methodist directly and asked them to consider alternative proposals. They responded by saying that they are not willing to consider alteratives until the decision to proceed or abandon the FCENS plans is made, this is very disappointing.
Without a clear plan to address these concerns outlined above, we will not be able to support the current proposals.
We encourage residents to make their views known about the plans by emailing [email protected] and copying us in on [email protected]
Cllr Mitchell Goldie, Cllr Kay Isa & Cllr Sazimet Palta-Imre
