Closing the Alma Hotel

This week Lancashire Police applied to the courts for and were granted a closure order on the Alma Hotel on Fishergate Hill opposite County Hall.

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/39Drug39-hotel-shut-by-courts.4149203.jp

Undoubtedly many local residents were pleased as they saw this building as a blot on the landscape and were fearful and disapproving of many of the residents and of the activities alleged to take place there. Clearly it was one of the least attractive dwelling places in the city, it was the home for about twenty people who were at the bottom of the social scale, mostly workless and virtually penniless, and in many cases with complex social needs and histories involving addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The first indication of a move to close the Alma seems to have been in an report from the local police to the Broadgate Residents action group about a month ago. About a fortnight ago a closely typed legal notice was pasted to the door announcing an application had been lodged for a court order to close the place, later amended to indicate the date of the hearing as 3^rd. June. According to one of the former residents who I spoke to today on Wednesday the residents were given an hour's notice to collect their possessions and then evicted on to the street. I am told about half a dozen of the residents were given shelter in another property managed by the landlord, several of the others have found temporary "sofa surfing" places with friends, while at least half a dozen are for the time being at least sleeping rough.

It remains to be seen whether closing this unpleasant lodging house will improve the tone of the neighbourhood. Usually such actions do little more than displace the anti social activity to other neighbouring areas.

Whatever, the truth or otherwise of the allegations concerning drug dealing, and whatever the legalities of the process there are at least two things I found outrageous.

1. To evict poor and vulnerable residents at short notice while making no attempt to assist them to find alternative, suitable accommodation is inhuman in a way that recalls the "clearances" of the Scottish Highlands following Culloden. In that case the resentment has festered for two centuries. In the case of the Alma this may be more short lived but it is hardly likely to encourage them to co-operate with the authorities or to attempt to turn their lives around. And it is not fair on local charities like the Salvation Army and Fox Street Night-Shelter to expect them to deal with the human fall out.

2. To act against individuals in such a summary manner without bringing any of the individuals concerned before the courts seems to be against basic human rights. Surely if there was evidence of possession or trading of illegal drugs in the Alma hotel it should lead to arrests and prosecutions of the offenders. In British law a person is generally assumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt and should not be punished by the state unless found guilty by the courts. While it may prove popular with the locals to close down a "crack house" it seems to me that in this case the police have acted unjustly and without bothering to prove their case.

It worries me as yet another example of a political and cultural climate that is moving each day closer to fascism.