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Please see the message below which has been sent by the charity Crisis to its volunteers.  If you are able to help and want the template/email address to send it to, please drop me a PM.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

You will know for the last five years, Crisis have been working on a very special project called Urban Village, modelled on the success of Common Ground in New York.  This innovative solution will bring homeless people and working people into a mixed and thriving community.  This will be the first time for many homeless people that they experience integrated support, compassion, community as well as the opportunity for training, work, and well being.

The last five years have been quite extraordinary - David Gilmour sold his own home so homeless people could have a home, government gave us £30 million to build Urban Village and we found an exceptional site in Shoreditch.  Tower Hamlets, the GLA, CABE and hundreds of other key decision makers have come together to stand behind Crisis and Urban Village.  But our last hurdle before building is planning permission.  The Tower Hamlets council will hear our application on 19 July.

In the last few days, to our horror, 800 local people have opposed our scheme.  Sadly, they have been mislead about the nature of the project by a small numbers of misinformed people who have sought to portray homeless people as idle, crazy, drug abusing, and anti social. 

As volunteers of Crisis, you know that this stereotype is far from the truth and nobody knows better than you how important it is for people to have second chance and to receive essential support to undo the damage that very often goes back to childhood.

Our volunteers are the heart and soul of Crisis, and we know your power to make things happen. I cant persuade the Council on my own, but your help can make a tangible difference.

The math is simple - as a community, your numbers total over 10,000.  By sending a simple email, your voice can be louder than those objectors. You can speak out for homeless people and help Urban Village come to life!

So here's what we want you to do:

Please send an email to Tower Hamlets, supporting our planning application - If you would like to use the template we have suggested below, please do so. And keep us in your thoughts on the evening of the 19th!!!

bumped for the late shift :)

Sorry to be controversial Claire but I think this e-mail may be doing exactly what it accuses others of doing. i.e misleading people.  The basic thread of it seems to be in trying convince people, and outsiders at that, that these protesters must only be objecting because they "hate" homeless people.

After some googling I found the following site which lays out these objections....

http://www.communigate.co.uk/london/ctra/page3.phtml

The points raised against this scheme seem to be many and varied, concerning all aspects of the development such as building sizes & types, transport links and conservation issues whilst also highlighting alleged differences between this and the New York Common Ground project. Yes they are seeking reassurance about the makeup of any new inhabitants but their opposition seems to be based on more than just discrimination against homeless people.

I personally don't know enough to say whether or not this scheme is right or wrong but I don't think it should be influenced by mass support from "outsiders" drummed up by an interested party.

Also, 800 voices who live locally deserve any objections to be heard fairly and to have any of their concerns about this project addressed.

I just think a more proper course of action for Crisis would be to put their case across to these objectors personally and discuss these issues with them, rather than trying to organise a mass flaming by email of the planning committee by people who are not directly involved.

 :goodpost: