Town should not be 'default place' for people on parole

MP SAYS STOCKTON TAKES MORE THAN ITS FAIR SHARE

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT

Chris McDonald on Stockton High Street LABOUR PARTY

ASTOCKTON MP says the town has taken “more than its fair share” of people released from prison on parole.

Chris McDonald, Labour MP for Stockton North, said he wanted to “stop other areas offloading their responsibilities on to our community” as he spoke of the mixture of enforcement, compassion and support in a five-point plan to improve Stockton town centre.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We've seen a big rise in people who are being released on parole from other parts of the North East region being located to Stockton. I don’t think that’s appropriate.

“I don’t think we should be the default place where people are released on parole end up. If someone’s been released on parole they have absolutely a right to restart their life and get back into the community, but I think every community throughout the whole of our region has a responsibility to help and support that.

“It’s not a job for the people of Stockton to do it for everybody else. That's about fairness and not concentrating people in a single place and leaving places to be neglected.

“We're taking more than our fair share of people who have been released on parole throughout the whole of the North East... But other parts of the North East need to do that too”

He turned to the topic of parolees as he spoke of his and Stockton Council’s aim to tackle problem homes in multiple occupation (HMOs), which he said also involved making sure landlords were behaving responsibly through licensing and planning.

The HMO issue is one of the five points in a plan developed by Mr McDonald and Stockton Council's Labour leadership to “reclaim the High Street”