Flats for homeless plan at former barber’s

A FORMER barber’s shop will be turned into a series of bedsits to accommodate homeless people, new plans have revealed.

The hairdressing business, on the corner of Waterloo Street and Dallow Street, Burton, has moved out of the premises, which are stand empty and now plans have been approved to turn the two buildings it occupied into a house of multiple occupation.

There will be five bedrooms with two bathrooms, a kitchen and a communal lounge, now the scheme is given the go ahead.

A report on the project says there is a high demand for flats to let in the area. It said this building, like others in the area, lends itself to this type of development.

Swadlincote-based Girica Community Interest Company, which deals in the selling of second-hand goods and the letting of housing association real estate, has been given permission for the project by East Staffordshire Borough Council for a change of use at the buildings from retail into residential accommodation.

There will be minor alterations inside the building, the plan states. There will be no parking spaces with the new bedsits, but there will be a cycle store added, it says.

A report submitted with the application said: “It is currently vacant and like several other buildings in the area it lends itself to providing a letting accommodation that is in high demand in the town.

“The individual bedsits will be quite modest and therefore affordable. The proposed use of this building will have little impact on the area.

“This is because it already includes lots of residential accommodation and would benefit future occupiers providing accommodation for the homeless.”