Homeless sleeping cabins to be used long term

Portable cabins for homeless people to sleep in will be retained for next winter and town hall bosses will now look at a longer-term provision.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has said the 10 sleeping and two dining pods in the grounds of the former Shadsworth Leisure Centre in Blackburn can now stay until the end of March 2026.

Under the authority's "severe weather exposure provision", the sleeping pods have been provided for five years and will be allocated to vulnerable people and rough sleepers throughout next winter.

Reacting to the news, councillors welcomed the extended use of the pods and sought assurances for their future.

Ewood's Labour councillor, Jim Casey, said: "The council has been very successful with these pods.

"They are very important for the borough and the people who live in them.

"It gives them dignity and can be the start of people getting their lives back.

"I think we need to start planning for the future."

The leisure centre is now partly-demolished and the site scheduled for redevelopment.

Conservative planning spokesman, councillor Paul Marrow, said: "I am pleased the Shadsworth site has been so successful and is back again but we may need to look for another place for the future."

Executive member for Adults Social Care & Health and Labour councillor Jackie Floyd said her department would look at where else in the borough the pods could be located if the Shadsworth site became unavailable.

Planning chairman and Darwen West wards, Labour councillor Dave Smith said: "We should be really proud of this.

"We are one of the few boroughs where such protection for the homeless is available."

The pods all have a single bedroom and toilet/shower room and a kitchenette and dining area and were first rolled out by the council in 2020 as part of pandemic homeless provisions.

Residents living in the pods benefit from support available at the site every day to help with addiction and mental health issues with a support network and pathway to a permanent home.

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