ANGRY scenes are expected in Winchester tonight as the developers planning to build supported housing in the city meet with residents to discuss their ideas.

The meeting has been arranged by John Thompson and Partners, the London-based company installed by Winchester City Council to plot the developments, as a way to assess local feelings about their plans for Highcliffe and Stanmore. Local residents have become increasingly concerned by the proposals, especially after it was revealed by The Daily Echo that the supported homes planned would house ex-offenders and former drug addicts.

People living near the proposed sites had thought, following a lengthy public consultation exercise carried out last autumn, that the developments on their estates would be for affordable homes for low-income families.

But, after the city council realised to get bidding for its supported housing projects from the government it needed to submit site options before the end of March this year, the sites in Highcliffe and Stanmore were instead suggested as places supported homes could instead be built.

On Monday, The Daily Echo revealed how the leader of Winchester City Council, Councillor Sheila Campbell, was in the dark over these plans despite her officers knowing about the possibility of the sites being used for supported homes from August 2001.

Tonight's meeting at All Saints Church Hall in Petersfield Road will focus on the building projects for the area, including the proposed ex-offenders hostel planned for Fivefields Road. The meeting starts at 6pm.