City Council kicks out plans to turn student accommodation into homeless shelter

Portland House

Plans to turn delipidated student accommodation into a hostel for the homeless have been thrown out by Nottingham City Council planners.

Lago Estates wanted to convert the current student accommodation in Portland House, Carrington Street into a hostel that would be run by the YMCA.

The application site, in the Southside regeneration area of Nottingham, included floors 1-4 of Portland House, together with the narrow section of the ground floor of the building and part of the basement area.

Nottinghamshire YMCA wanted to deliver support to clients aged 18 – 65 who are either homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness.

However, a statement signed by Paul Seddon, director of planning and regeneration, said: “The proposed homeless hostel would fail to take the opportunity for renovating and positively reusing the Portland House building, and would constitute a use that is not commensurate with the regeneration ambitions of the area.

“Indeed the proposal would prejudice the wider regeneration and transformation of the area, in conflict with the strategic aims of numerous area specific polices that relate to this part of the city centre.”

Nottingham City Council received seven letters from nearby businesses. One letter said: “Homeless people are vulnerable, and I believe would be more likely to develop a drug habit, or struggle to kick one, in an area where there is already a network of drug users begging for money and using the nearby phone box to contact their dealers. “

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