Sir, The recent letter from Theresa Jordan detailing the closure of St Alban’s Court sheltered accommodation in Wallingford highlights the shocking insensitivity of SOHA in looking after its vulnerable residents.

I have recently obtained information that shows SOHA has had detailed plans to redevelop the site dating as far back as March 2013. That the site would benefit from redevelopment cannot be disputed.

Unfortunately the treatment meted out to the residents since that point has been extremely insensitive given that as of now, there is still no planning application submitted.

It displays a great deal of arrogance on the part of SOHA to assume that permission will be granted without fuss (which is far from a certainty given the proximity to the likely redevelopment of the former Waitrose site).

There was no pressing reason for SOHA to evict these elderly residents from their homes and disperse them to unfamiliar locations — any redevelopment activity is likely to be at least a year away. That there is a clear financial benefit to SOHA in proceeding in this manner is evidenced by the fact that the final residents to object were being offered £4,000 in relocation costs to move quickly and quietly. Having recently moved myself from an overfull family house and filled two lorries for one quarter of this price, one has to question the motives behind this offer.

SOHA last year made £10.4m in profit. It appears to put financial interests ahead of those it is supposed to be protecting. There was no need to even consider closing the unit until planning permission had been granted.

As it stands SOHA has been working on plans for nearly two years and these have only been brought to light by use Freedom of Information Act requests. SOHA needs to need reconsider its motives and behave more openly, transparently and fairly.

Lee Upcraft

Wantage Road

Wallingford