I am pleased to report that Testway Housing has made important concessions in their plans to reclassify The Oval from sheltered to general purpose housing.

The building needs extensive improvements to bring it up to standard and county officials had declared it unsuitable as sheltered accommodation. Testway wrote to residents explaining the proposed changes and residents called in me as, their councillor, to express their concerns

I contacted Testway requesting a review of the proposals and Testway in conjunction with Test Valley Housing department reviewed the plans. As a result residents will be consulted about refurbishment of their kitchens and heating systems, a local letting policy has been implemented to reflect residents’ concerns and the residents’ lounge will remain open for at least a year and no changes will take place with out consultation with residents.