A paramedic and business owner hopes to combat homelessness in Bridgend by turning a former pub into short stay accommodation.
Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) has received an application to turn the former Taffys Tavern on Park Street in Bridgend into short stay living accommodation.
The proposed development would include disabled friendly short stay accommodation with four bedrooms on the ground floor and short stay accommodation with six bedrooms and an office on the first floor.
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If approved, the aim of the development would be to combat an increase in homelessness seen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a business plan, the applicant, Richard Hopkins, wrote that typical customers will be "anyone who requires a roof over their head for a short term period".
Mr Hopkins, the director of a property maintenance business called Red Property Development and Maintenance Ltd, added in the business plan that customers will be from the Bridgend area.
He wrote: "More than 700 people have been given temporary accommodation in Bridgend County Borough since March.
"It follows an increase of almost 25 percent in the number of people going to the local authority to request help with housing compared to the same period last year."
Mr Hopkins also works for the Welsh Ambulance Service as an E.M.T (emergency medical technician) paramedic.
On the running of the site, the business plan states that there would be a member of staff on site with one bedroom being the manager's room and an office.
Mr Hopkins wrote: "This means they would manage the day to day running of the site with backup from myself and my partner."
Staff from Mr Hopkins' property maintenance company would also be able to assist.
The proposed site has changed its face many times over the years, having once been a bar called the Wicked Lady and, at one point a fish and chip shop.
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