THE hostel where 17-year-old Jayden Parkinson lived before she was murdered is to close, it was announced yesterday.

Council bosses will no longer pay for One Foot Forward, in Iffley Road, Oxford, after the firm that runs it decided not to continue the service after April next year.

Oxfordshire County Council, which funds the service, said those who live at the home, owned by Oxford City Council, will be moved elsewhere. The facility is for 18 homeless young people aged 16 to 24 and was known as The Bridge before BCHA took on its three-year contract.

In June more than 200 people signed a petition calling on the hostel to close over antisocial behaviour such as swearing, vandalism and needles pushed through letterboxes.

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Iffley Fields and St Mary’s county councillor David Williams called for it not to be re-used as a hostel again, adding: “The problems with One Foot Forward were that it was too large and contained a mixture of those who perpetrated bad behaviour and an array of individuals who were mere victims.”

He said he would prefer the site to be used for housing.

In May the councillor said the building could be sold off, but the city council declined to comment on its plans.

County Council spokesman Paul Smith said: “The county council has long planned to recommission supported housing provision and that process has been in train for some time.

“BCHA, the organisation that runs One Foot Forward, has decided not to make a bid as part of this normal process.”

Jennie Osborne, spokeswoman for BCHA, said the “strategic” decision was not connected to Jayden’s death, but did not comment on reported antisocial behaviour at the hostel.

She said: “We appraise and review all of our contracts strategically and on that basis make a business decision as to whether to enter the tender process.”

Jayden, of Didcot, left the hostel at 3.27pm on December 3, the day she disappeared.

She was murdered by ex-boyfriend Ben Blakeley, 22, who was jailed for a minimum 20 years in July after a trial.


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