‘Council is insensitive’ (From News Shopper)

‘Council is insensitive’

9:28am Wednesday 1st September 2004 in

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A COUPLE whose autistic son has been treated "outrageously" have accused the council of insensitivity.

Trevor Alloway, 52, and his 46-year-old wife Diane, of Wakely Close, Biggin Hill, are battling Bromley Council in a bid to find a suitable placement for their son Stephen, who is profoundly autistic.

For the past eight years, 19-year-old Stephen has spent term-time at a residential school but a combination of his mother's failing health and his own erratic behaviour has meant a full-time placement has become increasingly necessary.

His parents' preferred choice is Hesley Village College, Doncaster, which, at £3,750-a-week, does not come cheap but they say is best suited to meet Stephen's special needs.

Yet despite the Alloyway's protestations and the advice of Stephen's current tutor, the council has instead insisted on sending him to Robinia Care, in Hindhead, Kent.

Mr Alloway argued that, while Robinia is perfectly adequate, "it does not have the structured system in place necessary to provide Stephen with the rigidity and discipline he needs".

At a two-day hearing in the High Court last week Mr Justice Crane found in the couple's favour and ordered the council to re-consider its decision which, he said, had been "flawed".

But he cannot compel it to send Stephen to Hesley and, when a fresh decision is made by council officials on October 14, Mr Alloway fears nothing will have changed.

The project manager added: "The council's treatment of Stephen has been outrageously insensitive so I see no reason why it will change its stance.

"We've been told by Stephen's tutor the time is right for him to move to Hesley because, after the progress he's made in the past year, any delay might set him back years.

"But the council fails to see this, and is just looking at the finances. But you can't put a price on a young man's development."

A council spokesman said: "We are continuing to work with Mr Alloway, and are still funding his care as we have done since he was a child.

"We are making a full re-assessment so his care needs are met in the best way."

The couple told News Shopper their story after agreeing to waive the right to anonymity granted them by the court.