A MAKESHIFT homeless shelter in a side street off Cowley Road will be ‘tidied up’ when a new short-stay hotel is built.
EST8 Investment Ltd is seeking planning permission to change the use of the former Crown House Club snooker hall in Crown Street, East Oxford.
Planning permission was granted in August for a 16-bedroom hotel but the plans have been resubmitted to increase the number of bedrooms to 19, provide an internal lift, and extend the existing roof.
The club has been closed for several years.
READ AGAIN: Rough sleeper shelter in shack at former snooker hall
If the new hotel plans get the go-ahead it will spell the end of the makeshift shelter constructed around a tree and empty space alongside the building .
In August residents said the shack had been in place for at least a year and some had complained to the council about it because of noise late at night.
Oxford Architects are the architects for the scheme.
The firm said in the application: “The open fronted ground facing the road is often used by the homeless to create makeshift shelters or for illegal or irregular parking.
“There are also signs of the site being used as a dumping ground for illegal trade waste.
READ AGAIN: New hotel allowed for former snooker club
“Changing the use of the building and providing it with a new purpose would ensure that it was properly maintained for a more sustainable period of time.
“It would allow the building frontage to be tidied up and create a positive addition to the site rather than portray the negative, downtrodden image it currently has.”
The architects’ firm said the owners thought the most sustainable use of the building would be to create a short-stay hotel.
The new extended roof will feature two roof lights and there will be a cycle store.
The council has been spending millions of pounds to tackle the city’s rough sleeper crisis.
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A new homeless hub is being opened in Floyd’s Row, St Aldate’s while another premises has been built in Rymers Lane.
The Floyd’s Row base is expected to open in January.
A council spokesman said in August it did not have ‘automatic power’ to remove the shelter. He added that outreach teams had been working with police to help the homeless engage with homelessness services to access accommodation. Antisocial behaviour was also being tackled.
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