This is a petition to stop Ilex Close on Colchester Garrison being sold to Housing Association. Residents who live in the army married quarters on Ilex close are being turfed out of their homes because Annington homes have decided they are selling the whole close to housing association. In turn this will impose a breach of security on our Garrison whilst our soldiers are away fighting for our country in Afghanistan leaving their wives and children at home to deal with the backlash of over 100 houses being allocated to housing association and local authority residents, and the effects this will cause. This will also cause conflict between civilian and army residents causing possible turf wars and could in turn cause issues to the appearance of our estate, as we as married quarter residents are required by contract to keep our homes, gardens and estate clean rubbish free and respectable. However Ilex close and the residents there will not be required to under go these contractual agreements therefore have a free rein to do as they wish and live as they wish within the estate. Residents of the Colchester Garrison specifically Montgomery estate and St Michaels estate will also fear for the safety of their belongings and vehicles, with there already being a rise in bicycles being stolen from residents gardens which could be seen to rise. Other concerns are of youths and teenage gangs roaming the estate terrorising residents and their children fearing for MILITARY residents to be able to let their children play out in the street. In the current climate with threats to our country and our military personnel.. ask yourselves, do you want civilians living on your estate Whether you live on Colchester Garrison or not this could happen where you live. And do our soldiers who fight for this country and have a hard enough job doing that have to deal with the conflict within their home lives.. their sanctuary's, their places to relax and feel at home.. will they be able to do this when the estate is filled with civilians And do they not deserve the right to live in a clean, SAFE and relaxed environment and feel safe in the knowledge that when they go away their wives and children will be safe and happy and content! We will not know who will be living in those houses, we do not know as residents what type of security risk they impose, whether they be drug dealers, convicted felons etc, so how can we be safe in the knowledge that we will be safe living on a mixed civilian and army estate. If no security breach was visible between civilian and military then military accomodation would not generally be segregated the way it is and the need for barriers on entrance and exits to the estate would not be in use. This petition is not meant to generalise or stereotype it is to highlight the concerns of the residents of Colchester Garrison and what probable issues will come with placing housing association and local housing authority residents in the middle of a military housing estate. Please sign our petition and put a stop to this, to keep our estate military.

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