Bristol’s first 24-hour homeless shelter gets green light

Bristol’s first 24-hour homeless shelter looks set to open next month after it was granted planning permission.

Work will now start to transform the former council office building, St Anne’s House, into a shelter which will be operated by homeless charity St Mungo’s, following a decision by the council’s planning committee.

The Brislington building will have space for 30 emergency beds, including a female-only dormitory, and will be open between October 2018 and March 2019 only.

Currently permission has been granted for the next two winters.

Unlike most other shelters in the city, those using the building would not be required to leave in the mornings and would be given access to holistic and practical support during the day.

The proposed ground floor layout of the new shelter. Image from Bristol City Council

Bristol City Council received more than 130 objections to the scheme from concerned residents.

Issues related to a lack of consultation, concerns about anti-social behaviour and drug use and the location of the shelter in a “quiet and predominantly residential” area of the city.

A number of councillors also blasted the way the public consultation had been handled.

Speaking during the public forum part of the meeting, Tony Carey, a Tory councillor for Brislington East, called the public consultation a “fiasco” and explained the residents have “serious concerns” about the scheme.

His feelings were echoed by other members of the committee, with Olly Mead, a Labour councillor for Horfield, referring to the consultation as “disgraceful” and Richard Eddy, a Tory councillor for Bishopsworth, saying he was “sorely disappointed” with how it had been handled.

But Don Alexander, a Labour councillor for Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston, took a different view and said he felt there was “quite a lot of public consultation” about the project.

The other main issue raised by committee members related to public transport.

Eddy, who voted against the application, said he was concerned about how homeless people would make their way to and from St Annes House.

“It is located 2.6 miles away from the city centre. Will they be using the 36 bus or is there going to be a special minibus picking them up?” he added.

It is unclear how homeless people – who tend to locate themselves in the city centre during the day – will get to and from the hostel.

Most people sleep in rough are around the city centre

Mead said he felt it was the “wrong location”  because it was in such a “badly connected” part of the city for transport.

But he also said he was concerned about the “perception of homeless people and their behaviour”.

There were a number of comments from residents during public forum that the shelter would bring “anti-social behaviour and drug taking” into the area.

Committee member Lesley Alexander, a Tory councillor for Frome Vale, suggested some drug addicts using the shelter may “pick on people’s houses” to help fund their habit.

But Mead said homeless people were “not as scary” as people sometimes thought.

Celia Phipps, a Labour councillor for Bedminster, told the committee that she had lived nearby a homeless shelter and residents had the same concerns about anti-social behaviour, but it was “not as bad as people had thought”.

Bristol City Council has said that the city faces an increasing number of people sleeping rough, in addition to increasing pressure on demand for housing and supported accommodation.

According to Government statistics released earlier this year, Bristol has recorded the sixth highest number of rough sleepers across local authorities in England, including the London Boroughs.

David Ingerslev says it is vital that people are helped off the streets and into longer term accommodation

Speaking after the meeting David Ingerslev, St Mungo’s service manager, said: “We are delighted that this application has been approved.

“We will be working hard to ensure we get the shelter open later in October. It is vital that we get people off the streets and into longer term accommodation as soon as possible.

“The shelter is a temporary measure where we will work closely with people who have been rough sleeping to provide them with the support they need to sustain a life away from the streets.

“This work will take place together with our partner agencies, Caring in Bristol and Crisis Centre Ministries, alongside the city council.

“No-one should have to sleep rough on our streets and everyone deserves a place they can call home.”

In granting the permission, the committee included a condition requiring St Mungo’s to provide the council with a report about how the shelter operated during the first winter by May 31, 2019.

The shelter will initially be funded by a £600,000 grant from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government.

Kate Wilson is a local democracy reporter for Bristol. Main photo from Bristol Live.

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