Cornwall Council has submitted a planning application to place 18 one-bedroom homes on a site in Longrock near Penzance for use by homeless people.

The development is planned for a former highways depot in Newtown Lane at Long Rock, as part of a wider scheme by the council to provide more emergency accommodation for homeless people.

The application is for 18 modular-construction sleeper 'pods’, to provide short to medium-term supported accommodation to former rough-sleepers, as well to build a management and support building.

The existing two-storey building on the site, along with the sheds, are due to be demolished.

In its application, produced by Cormac on behalf of the council, it states: “This application is for a permanent solution to replace the temporary 'Bunkabin' site at Longrock, delivered in response to the Covid 19 pandemic, and due to be de-commissioned.”

The statement explains: “The site will be professionally managed by Cornwall Housing Ltd who have successfully managed several such sites, including the current Long Rock temporary accommodation Bunkabin scheme, which this proposal supersedes.

“Rents will be social rents and the focus will be on ensuring an appropriate level of support for each individual, in a quality environment.

“The ethos of the management of the site is to provide a settled environment; supporting residents with their needs in order to be able to sustain a more permanent housing solution longer term.

“Every effort has been made to provide a high-quality and liveable environment for the residents and for them not to feel like they are in an institution.”

It says the units have been designed in collaboration with homeless charities to provide safe and suitable, but also manageable, accommodation for people with a history of homelessness.

This includes front doors with separate letterboxes, prepay-card electricity meters to encourage budgeting and integration with the local community, and microwaves at a higher level, for those with poor backs and knees.

The grounds would also include planters for vegetable/and herb growing, a games table, clothes drying areas, a smoking shelter and picnic benches.

A separate two-storey unit, sited at the entrance, would become the management building for Cornwall Housing, to accommodate dedicated onsite support staff, a meeting space and allow for a 24-hour, seven days a week security concierge service and CCTV monitoring.

The ‘pod’ homes are already set up at a number of locations in Cornwall, including at County Hall in Truro, to help manage the current housing crisis.

They were first set up in response to government instructions back in March 2020, for local authorities in England and Wales to offer accommodation to rough sleepers through its ‘Everyone In’ policy.

The council said that whilst only temporary, the schemes had proved successful in helping a number of people in a short period of time.

Cornwall was now in the centre of a housing crisis, with around 700 households currently either rough sleeping or living in emergency or temporary accommodation in towns in Cornwall.

The planning application states how Cornwall Council is currently spending “considerable and unsustainable sums” each year on placing people in accommodation such as bed and breakfasts and hotels, and costs were only partly recoverable from Housing Benefit, resulting in “significant financial losses” to the authority.

To find out more or to comment on the proposals search for planning application number PA22/10106.