Portsmouth backs plan to transform Drayton care home into 13 'rabbit hutches' for homeless residents

Politicians sitting on Portsmouth City Council’s planning committee backed the bid to turn the former Abbeyway care home in Drayton into a new ‘moving on’ property for vulnerable residents by four councillors to three.

The property, in Havant Road, had been housing a number of homeless people during the coronavirus pandemic, having previously been empty for two years.

Now the building will be transformed by the Society of St James into 13 ‘self-contained’ homes, complete with en-suites and kitchens, to provide accommodation for needy residents for up to two years.

The charity and council chiefs say the new site will help address the city’s homelessness problem.

But the conversation has sparked fury in Drayton, with 105 people opposing it compared to just five in favour, with fears over anti-social behaviour and concerns about ‘cramped’ living conditions the main focus.

Conservative councillor Steve Wemyss, who represents the Drayton and Farlington ward, backed residents and pleaded with the committee to throw the plans out.

He said: ‘Because the prospective occupants would have previously been rough sleepers, that doesn’t mean that this city can expect them to be grateful for substandard accommodation.’

Minimum space standards in the city for a single unit is 376 square ft (35 square metres).

‘Four of the 13 proposed units are just about half that, the best unit is only 26 square metres, not even three-quarters of the minimum,’ Cllr Wemyss added. ‘Just because other local authorities have chosen to ignore space standards is not a justification for this authority to do likewise.’

His plea was backed by Tory Cllr Terry Norton, who said it was ‘clear the community fundamentally objected’ to the plan.

He added: ‘It’s not right we’re asking our city’s vulnerable to stay in rabbit hutches – spaces which are significantly smaller than what we would allow flats to be.

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‘If we allow this today, the floodgates will open and there will be nothing stopping developers.’

The Society of St James, which already runs a number of refuges for homeless people in the county, defended its application saying it would create ‘greater opportunities’ for rough sleepers.

In a deputation read out by Rebecca Altman, the city’s principal planning officer, the charity said: ‘Each unit will be self-contained but is far from being prison-like. For many this will be the largest accommodation they have been able to access for many years and is a step up from a room in a shared house or in a hostel.’

But city Tory leader Cllr Donna Jones disagreed. Putting forward a motion to reject the bid, she said the ‘inadequate’ homes ‘did not fit’ with the council’s own space standards.

‘Very easily this decision could be judicially reviewed because we are not adhering to a national and local adopted policy on space standards,’ she warned councillors.

‘To negate that by allowing inadequate accommodation for people, that you could argue really do need that high level of accommodation to turn their lives around and to really change things and have a brighter future, would be wrong.’

But her motion failed to secure a majority in the committee, losing by three votes to four.

Cllr Darren Saunders, the city’s housing boss, insisted the new development would be a critical piece in the puzzle of solving Portsmouth’s rough sleeping problem.

He told the committee: ‘This will deal with the homelessness issue we face, it will help us deliver the targets that exist which the government is imposing on us

‘In order to satisfy the government’s targets that we have to do and produce a plan to get rough sleepers off our streets, into accommodation and get a better life this is something we should support.’

Ian Maguire. assistant director of planning and economic growth, said room sizes were below council standards but said the application was a ‘unique’ one and was ‘perfectly legitimate’ in planning terms

Work is expected to begin on the site next month.

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