Green light given to convert guest house into homeless accommodation

Plans to turn a guest house into emergency accommodation for the homeless have been given the green light by Caerphilly Council.

Y Fron Guest House in Pwllypant was the subject of a planning application, which will see the site converted into a house in multiple occupancy and a two-storey extension at the back.

The planned development, which was approved by the council’s planning committee, will span three floors.

In total it will have 11 bedrooms, including one for a manager, and six studio apartments.

In the council’s planning committee, Llanbradach ward member, Cllr Colin Mann, spoke out against the planning application.

Despite the council receiving no objections, both local ward members said they had been contacted by residents.

Cllr Mann said: “Cllr (Robert) Gough and I were approached by residents who are concerned about the extension.

“There have been, as I understand, a series of incidents in the property.

“There’s a very high window on the south side of the building and someone on more than one occasion has been just standing in that window and staring out for a number of hours and obviously this causes concern to Brooklands.

“If there’s an extension of that sort of use it may exacerbate the nuisance that residence experienced.

“Y Fron has been used as a traditional bed and breakfast for many years and has not caused any problems that I’m aware of it.

“It is the more recent events that have caused these issues.”

The agent for the application, Emma Harding, who is also the principle planner at Asbri Planning, spoke in its favour highlighting the importance of the application for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

This was echoed by Cllr Julian Simmonds.

He said: “I have two of these types of facilities in my ward here in Crosskeys, which are obviously for homeless people.

“We’ve had one or two little issues but these facilities are extremely well managed. They do have onsite managers, they do have floating support where social workers go in every now and again to make sure that residents are okay.

“There is security on these sites so there’s no need to worry about that and I just think it’s something I would recommend.

“As an authority we really do have a duty of care to these individuals and I think we’ve got to bear that in mind and especially at the moment during these times of Covid.”