Controversial plans to turn a care home for ten people into temporary housing for 27 people have been withdrawn after the local councillor said it 'degrades human dignity’.
Bristol property company Connolly & Callaghan, the city’s biggest provider of emergency accommodation for the city council, has withdrawn its plan to turn the care home building in Southville into a huge house in multiple occupancy (HMO) after a big backlash from people living nearby. The firm said it withdrew the plans to 'allow time' for council housing officers to explain to C&C exactly what 'their requirements regarding facilities for occupants' will be.
C&C’s original proposal would have seen the property at 8 Acramans Road, close to Holy Cross Primary School, converted into accommodation for up to 27 people - with five toilets, three showers and two baths between them.
Read more: Plan to cram 27 people into one home 'degrades human dignity'
In its original planning application C&C, who provide more than 700 beds in emergency accommodation every night in Bristol and the surrounding area, said the plans for 8 Acramans Road met the minimum standards for HMOs, and said they were providing a much-needed extra capacity for temporary and emergency accommodation across the city.
With more than 16,000 people on the council’s housing waiting list, and record numbers of Section 21 evictions in Bristol since the covid pandemic, demand for individuals, couples and families needing emergency accommodation is higher than ever before. But local residents and one of Southville’s local councillors, Christine Townsend, expressed concern at the sheer number of people who could potentially be living at the four-storey early Victorian house at any one time.
The building, which C&C reportedly bought for £1.3 million just before Christmas, had been a care home for adults with complex needs. It had a total of ten bedrooms - five on each of the upper two floors - with the ground floor and lower ground floor rooms used as an office, kitchens, lounge, dining room and a games room for the care home, and one of the rooms as a bedroom for carers staying overnight.
C&Cs plan had all those rooms converted into bedrooms too, apart from two kitchens and one living room. And because they are big, 12 of the 15 rooms could be ‘doubles’ and accommodate two people, meaning 27 could be there at any one time.
Cllr Townsend had said she had serious concerns about what living there would be like, even if it would be temporary for each person. For up to 27 people, there would only be five toilets, two baths and one shower room.
“Fifteen bedrooms with an occupancy of 27 is too many for the suggested layout of this building,” she has told council planners. “It is proposed that there be five toilets in this accommodation with one shower room and 2 baths – this is inadequate for 27 residents and degrades human dignity – communal bath use is a relic from the Victorian era,” she added.
“The lounge/dining space allows for 62cm2 per resident if all residents wished to be in that room at the same time to relax/socialise in their accommodation – this is an abomination and simply not feasible so unacceptable.
“The proposal of two kitchens gives each individual occupant 1.16m2 in terms of space – inadequate – it is not clear to me whether the space indicated in the plans include that which would be taken up by units which would further reduce the available space for residents to cook in,” she said.
Now, C&C has advised Bristol City Council’s planning department that the application has been withdrawn. Cllr Townsend had called the application in to be dealt with by councillors rather than council planning officers, and said the withdrawal now was a reminder to all developers to talk to local councillors as soon as they can.
"The offer to engage with ward councillors came after Connolly and Callaghan had submitted their application and read the many resident and my comments - developers are reminded that communication at the earliest of opportunities with those with an interest can often save time and therefore their own funds, in the long run," Cllr Townsend told Bristol Live this week.
A spokesperson for Connolly & Callaghan told Bristol Live: "We have withdrawn the application to allow time for the Private Housing Letting Team of Bristol City Council to explain their requirements regarding facilities for occupants."
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