WINCHESTER is a civilised and peaceful place. But for years it was blighted by the occupants of a lawless hostel that was simply out of control.

Recent issues of this newspaper have highlighted the appalling behaviour of some of its residents

So it is absolutely right that its supposed managers A2 Dominion have taken the decision to close it next spring. This will be welcome news to the mainly elderly near-neighbours who for years have put up with varying degrees of anti-social behaviour from the occupants of the ex-offenders hostel, who in many cases were not 'ex' but very much current offenders.

Two weeks ago the Hampshire Chronicle in this column asked A2 Dominion to justify why West View House should stay open. Clearly they can't.

READ MORE HERE: Offenders' hostel in Hyde to close next spring

Now A2 Dominion will have to relocate the residents to other places. This will be good news for the long-suffering residents of Hyde but potentially bad news for wherever the residents relocate. One thing that surely everyone has learned is that it is a bad idea to house 'ex-offenders' in a hostel as large as West View House with its 29 bedrooms. That is simply too big for anything but highly competent management. A2 Dominion have failed to provide that for whatever reason, probably related to cost-cutting to ensure extra profitability on the contract. Their reputation has taken a big hit by their failure at West View House and one wonders whether their rehabilitation work with chronic offenders will be any better in the future.

The elephant in the room on all this is that the decisions made by the coalition government in the 2010s to cut public spending were short-sighted. The first decade of this century had seen improvements in this difficult field. The chronic offending by many of the West View House residents will only be addressed if public money is invested in tackling the root causes. Unfortunately cash-strapped Hampshire County Council is considering further cutbacks that will impact on funding for places such as West View House.