Hotels and Pontin’s owner paid £229,000 to help Covid homeless
BRITANNIA hotels and holiday parks in Southport were paid £229,113.04 by Sefton Council to provide temporary housing to homeless people during the Covid19 pandemic.
The local authority said that it had tackled homelessness by placing people at The Scarisbrick Hotel on Lord Street, The Prince Of Wales Hotel on Lord Street and Pontins holiday park in Ainsdale.
It was part of the Government’s Everyone In initiative to get rough sleepers off the streets and give them places to stay during the pandemic.
The arrangement ended in September last year.
The figures were provided following a question submitted by Councillor Sir Ron Watson at the Sefton Budget meeting last week.
He said: “Will the cabinet member confirm that the arrangements with the Britannia Hotel Group have now been terminated and will she confirm the amount of money that they have been paid up to the present time?”
The Sefton Council expenditure with Britannia Hotels from March 2020 to August 2021 was:
Prince of Wales Hotel: £174,135.66 (£114,710.16 in 2020/21; £59,425.50 in 2021/2022).
The Scarisbrick Hotel: £21,352.38 (all in 2021/22).
Pontins: £33,625 (£846 in 2020/21; £32,779 in 2021/22).
Sefton Council cabinet member for communities and housing, Cllr Trish Hardy, said: “Sefton Council did not have a formal agreement with the Britannia Hotel Group, who own Pontins, the Prince of Wales Hotel and the Scarisbrick Hotel.
“However, due to the Government’s Everyone In initiative to get rough sleepers off the streets during the Covid-19 pandemic, the council’s Housing Options service did use these hotels, amongst others, to provide interim accommodation for households that are eligible up until September 30, 2021.
“Sefton Council’s Housing Options service have not placed any other households at these hotels since that date.
“Where possible, only single homeless people are placed in B&B.
“Housing Options always aims to provide family households requiring interim accommodation with cooking facilities, which were available at Pontins during various periods of lockdown.”