AN application to create a home for vulnerable young men has been thrown out after objections from more than 4,000 residents.

Turnaround Homes, which runs a similar facility at Leybourne Terrace in Stockton, applied for permission to accommodate 16 men at Holme Farm, in Stainton, Middlesbrough.

The firm wanted to convert the farmhouse into three home units, a lounge, dining area, kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, meeting and reception areas, for 16 to 25-year-olds.

While it specified that the occupants would be homeless and susceptible to crime, drug and alcohol abuse and mental health problems, it denied Holme Farm would become a drugs rehabilitation centre.

When the application was first submitted, last June, it was met with a flood of objections from local people.

Prior to Friday's meeting of Middlesbrough Borough Council's planning committee, at which the matter was resolved, a petition bearing 4,000 names was handed in.

Among the grounds for objection were that the access lane was inadequate, the area already suffers from anti-social problems, the plans for supervision were lacking and that local people's safety would be threatened.

Speaking at the meeting, Janet Wade, of Hemlington, said: "Superficially, it's a wonderful idea, but look beneath the surface. Turnaround are playing with our consciences and attempting to mislead us.

"The 4,000 names on the petition are telling you that we are a frightened community. If you don't protect us today, who will protect us tomorrow?"

But in a report to the committee, which undertook a site visit before the meeting, Teesside Homeless Action Group, Teesside Night Stop, Stockton Churches' Mission to the Single Homeless, and local health authorities backed the application.

Malcolm Cundick, Turnaround's agent, claimed that far from regarding it as a threat, the community would come to view the facility as an asset.

Voting against the application, Councillor John McPartland said: "My heart goes out to young men who have major problems, but I'm afraid that is not enough."

Mr Cundick indicated that an appeal against the decision was likely