CONTROVERSIAL plans for a bail hostel in central Swindon have proved unpopular with potential house-buyers.

Wiltshire probation service plans to flatten the White House Pub in Corporation Street and build a 24-bed hostel there.

Residents, who have launched a petition against the plan, say their homes are losing their market value because of the fears of people looking to buy in the town.

Michelle Ralph, 24, and her partner Adam Ward, 23, placed their three-bedroom home in nearby Gooch Street on the market last month.

But they say that when a buyer found out that they could be living alongside sex offenders, burglars or paedophiles they dropped the deal immediately.

Michelle, who has lived at the address for four years said: "They said they would not touch our home with a barge pole after they found out about the bail hostel."

She explained that their home was originally up for sale for £96,000 and that they had accepted an offer of £94,000.

But the buyer pulled out after learning about the bail hostel, adding that no offer would persuade them to live there.

She added: "We feel that there is no way that we can move now. It has become impossible to sell our home for a realistic price."

The scheme has been met by a wave of protest from people living in the area, who handed a 1,000-name petition to mayor David Cox.

And dozens of protesters mounted a protest at a public exhibition at the County Ground earlier in the month.

If the all-male hostel is approved, criminals could be housed just yards from families in the area.

Roughly a quarter of the people living in the hostel could have been released from prison to be integrated back into society.

If approved, the hostel could be up and running by the middle of 2003.

Wiltshire Probation Service says the criteria for acceptance into the hostel will be safety and that it would not accept anybody it didn't believe it could successfully manage.