New flats for homeless people could be built across three 'underutilised' sites - including a disused play area and an ‘informal’ free car park - in Rochdale. The proposal would see three apartment blocks constructed on land off Whitworth Road and Grasmere Street - also home to four ‘dilapidated’ council-owned garages.
Designed to a ‘high standard that will significantly enhance the character of the area’, it includes a pair of two-storey blocks - housing eight and four flats respectively - as well as a bungalow providing two homes. The plans have been submitted by Cornerstone Place, a social enterprise which aims to end street homelessness in the UK by 2030 by working in partnership with homelessness support charities.
The scheme has been developed in conjunction with a Rochdale-based homelessness charity, Stepping Stone Projects, which intends to operate the facility once it is complete. A document submitted with the planning applications notes that homelessness in Rochdale is ‘very high’ and increasing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
