Temporary pod homes for rough sleepers have been granted retrospective approval, after the council went ahead with the plans before seeking planning permission.
Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) Planning Applications committee last night (Wednesday, September 8), approved temporary planning permission for five years for the 40 pods near Cattle Market Car Park.
Over half of the pods have already been installed at the site, with the rest due to be delivered by the end of the first week in September.
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Councillor John Ennis, who was until recently lead member for Housing at RBC, said the council “does more than any other council in the country” to innovate and find more housing for rough sleepers.
He said the plans won’t cure homelessness “but will go a long way towards doing it”.
The council’s policy committee approved the plans, which are funded by a £2.3 million Government grant and being delivered in conjunction with St Mungo’s, in August 2020 and started installing them in July this year.
However, the council did not seek approval from the local planning department before going ahead with the plans, leading to complaints from some residents, asking why the correct procedure had not been followed.
Concerns were also raised about security and a potential increase in anti-social behaviour.
But councillor Tony Page said the site which “has been the subject of problems and anti-social behaviour” and would now be better supervised.
Meanwhile, new lead member for housing councillor Ellie Emberson said the scheme will provide “really decent homes for some of our most vulnerable people in Reading” as well as important wrap-around 24/7 support from St Mungo’s.
More than 260 people were placed in B&B/hotel accommodation in Reading as part of the Government’s Everyone In initiative during the pandemic, with more than 100 having now been placed in permanent accommodation.
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This left hundreds of people still needing accommodation, with the pods plan devised as part of the solution.
Cllr Page said there are “still a harcore group of rough sleepers who refuse to engage” but the plans would make “substantial inroads”.
The site will be secured, and entrance will be controlled through a door entry system, with CCTV to prevent access to anyone other than those who live there.
Once the pods are all installed, the council hopes people can move in that same month and the tenants are expected to stay at the site for two to three years.
The aim will be to get the residents ready to live independently within two years.
The pods can be moved elsewhere and are likely to move in a few years’ time, with plans to regenerate Cattle Market Car Park with a permanent housing development, which would be further away from the train tracks, in the next five to 10 years.
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