A MEMBER of staff at a controversial children's home has been suspended.

The employee from the Council-run Gregory Avenue children's home in Atherton is under suspension pending an investigation.

Meanwhile Council Chief Executive Stephen Jones has called for immediate action to try to resolve what locals say is a nightmare situation.

The suspension revelation comes in the wake of last week's Journal about a string of complaints about the six bed home made by neighbouring residents.

A Council spokesman said: "We can confirm only that a member of staff at Gregory Avenue is currently suspended to enable an allegation made about his conduct to be investigated.

"Suspension is a neutral act which implies neither guilt nor innocence but merely allows investigations to be be carried out."

Gregory Avenue resident Wayne Burrows is leading the call for action on the behaviour of the home's residents.

He alleges children from the home are allowed to wander the streets until 11.30pm. "They stay out until the early hours, drinking, trespassing, damaging property, fighting, shouting and putting graffiti on roads and pavements.

"Police attend the home on an almost daily basis and at times the best descriptions for events in the street outside our homes is 'riot' - we have been effectively made prisoners in our home homes."

Now he's been told by the council chief executive that the level of complaints from last year and this year "are of a level and intensity to be of very real concern".

And Mr Jones has ordered a second report on the home by an independent report by the Department of Health.

In a letter to Mr Burrows, Mr Jones says: "We need to understand what has occasioned this marked deterioration in relationships and escalation of complaints and, where we are able, address the causes.

"We want to reach as quickly as possible a situation where both the home and its neighbours are able to enjoy a reasonable quality of life.

"The inability of all concerned to resolve matters says something about the nature of the problems but it also says something about our own processes.

"This is particularly saddening as we are, I believe, seeking the same objectives."

Mr Jones is proposing to implement recommendations made in a recent survey at the home and to commission an independent practitioner's report.

He also wants to increase management input to work with the independent Department of Health practitioner and locals to "implement changes as they are identified and agreed".

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