City bedsits plan for vulnerable people

Plans to turn two central Hereford houses into short-term bedsits for vulnerable people in the county, and to install a shipping container for the same use, have been put forward.

Both are in Blackfriars Street, between the Old Market and Hereford FC’s Edgar Street football ground.

Herefordshire Council said last May it would spend up to £250,000 turning number 3, which formerly housed offices of its children’s services, into temporary home for young women coming out of care, for whom it is still reponsible.

“We have converted two other properties in the same street and it has not been an issue to secure planning approval,” the council said at the time.
Its planning application (number 243062) now seeks permission to turn the building into four self-contained one-bedroom flats, “for individuals requiring transitional temporary accommodation”.

Each of the four is described in accompanying plans as a bedroom/living area, with its own shower room and “mini-kitchen”.

The council also proposes (in application number 243061) a more radical change to number 7 in the street, where a garage will be demolished and replaced by an adapted shipping container, as well as converting the building’s interior into four more bedsits.

The council is currently tendering for the work to convert to the two properties, valued together at £450,000.

Comments on the two applications can be made until February 18.