Yahoo News New homes approved to help move Surrey homeless families out of expensive temporary accommodation
A Surrey council has approved three modular homes on a former builder’s storage yard to help ease the use of hotels for temporary accommodation. The pre-constructed buildings will support homeless families on the housing register.
Members of Epsom and Ewell Borough Council's (EEBC) planning committee approved the application for the modular houses at Fairview Road, Epsom, on November 7. The scheme, proposed by EEBC, was brought forward to help meet the acute demand for temporary accommodation in the borough.
Councillor Humphrey Reynolds said: “We’ve got nearly 100 families that are homeless [in the borough], and we have to find somewhere for them to live. It’s just the decent thing to do.” Supporting families and individuals who have become homeless is the Surrey council ’s “biggest financial pressure”, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
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The two-bedroom homes will include a bathroom, a joint-kitchen and dining area, a living room, as well as allocated parking for one car. The report states the proposed development site is close to public transport, as well as local shopping and employment opportunities.
Planning documents state the internal floor area of the homes fall short of space standards by 10 sqm, and fall short by 9 sqm of minimum outdoor private space requirements. As the buildings are pre-constructed, the shortfall in space standards cannot be addressed by redesigning the homes.
But council officers said the modular units would “provide a significantly better standard than most of the council’s temporary accommodation currently used in the borough such as hotel rooms and bed and breakfasts”. The officer’s report went on to state: “Modular buildings are to provide the first step of accommodation and are not to be used as permanent accommodation for families.”
According to council documents, 240 households are in temporary accommodation provided for by EEBC; around 90 of these are housed in expensive nightly paid accommodation outside of the borough. The total cost of nightly paid accommodation for 2023/24 was £1.75m.
"A death would be likely"
Over 80 comments were made on the application before it came to the planning committee, with many Fairview Road residents highlighting issues with the narrow road. Councillors heard that the road is around 3.55m wide, below national standards, meaning that cars have to mount the curb to carefully pass each other.
Speaking at the meeting, Debbie Ransome said that “road safety is a severe risk and that alone should make [the council] refuse this application”. Mrs Ransome told councillors the increase in traffic down the narrow road would make it “critically severe” and “a death would be likely”. She stressed the safeguarding of students walking down the street, cyclists riding past and access for emergency vehicles should be the council's "absolute priority".
Cllr Jan Mason said the council “shouldn't have a development that brings no improvement to people going down in cars or walking on the road.” Abstaining from the vote, Cllr Mason claimed she could not “sit here and approve of something which would make [the road] worse”.
Despite local concerns, Surrey Highways officers raised no objection to the application and recommended ways to promote sustainable transport. Councillors discussed if there was something EEBC, the applicant, or Surrey Highways could do to improve the condition of the road and safety, However, as the road is privately owned and not a public highway, neither local authority is obliged to make such enhancements.
