RUMOURS surrounding the impending sale and closure of The Foyer for Ipswich have been scotched by the organisation which runs it.Some of The Foyer's 47 young residents contacted The Evening Star and said they had been told to find new accommodation because The Foyer had been sold to make way for up-market housing.

RUMOURS surrounding the impending sale and closure of The Foyer for Ipswich have been scotched by the organisation which runs it.

Some of The Foyer's 47 young residents contacted The Evening Star and said they had been told to find new accommodation because The Foyer had been sold to make way for up-market housing.

The Foyer, a project opened in 1997 to help break the no home, no job, no home cycle for 16 to 25-year-olds, is next door to new apartment complex built by Redrow on the corner of Waterworks Street and Star Lane.

There has been some talk that Portia Engineering on Star Lane next to The Foyer will be redeveloped but director David Insley said nothing had been agreed for his metalwork company.

A spokeswoman for Norfolk-based Anglia Housing Group, which runs The Foyer in conjunction with the borough council and training organisations, categorically denied the closure rumour and said: "No, definitely not.

"The Foyer for Ipswich has not been sold, there are no plans to sell it and certainly no plans for it to be converted to any other style housing.

"We are aware there is a lot of redevelopment going on around this part of Ipswich and this is where some of the young people may have been under the impression their homes would be in the way.

"But The Foyer will not be replaced or included in any of this development," she said.

The Foyer for Ipswich, although only built in 1997 is a listed building and so demolition would not be an option.