A NEW hostel for the homeless WILL be built in Bury town centre.

Manchester Methodist Housing Association (MMHA) was this week given the go-ahead for the hostel and adjacent flats in Castlecroft Road.

The association withdrew a similar application for Baron Street, Bury, following public opposition earlier this year.

The new plans, approved by Bury's planning control sub-committee on Thursday, (Nov 15) attracted a mixed response from locals. Around 200 people wrote in support of the application but there was strong opposition from some town centre businesses and residents on Irwell Street and Phoenix Street. Steve Philips, who represented objectors at the planning control sub-committee, said: "There are residents living around the project and businesses nearby. Homeless people include those with criminal records and psychiatric problems.

"Castlecroft is adjacent to the Castle Leisure Centre which is very popular with children."

But welcoming the application, Councillor Bob Bibby said: "The hostel will be for people who have fallen on hard times. They will not be paedophiles or anything like that. They will be referred to the hostel by the local authority and need accommodation."

Coun Cassidy added that the hostel was "a much needed facility in the borough".

The complex, made up of 18 emergency beds and a three-storey building of nine one-bed flats, would be built on the site of the social services-run Castlecroft day nursery. The hostel will not be used as a drop in centre and will not house the mentally ill. It will be manned 24 hours a day and residents will get support and training to help them settle back into the community.

Lee Rogers of Bury Housing Concern said: "We have been campaigning for such a hostel for the last three-and-a-half years.

"In the last 18 months we have lost 30 beds and have been forced in some cases to give the homeless a blanket to sleep in."

He added: "I am very grateful to the councillors for showing their support for the hostel, which is a great result for the homeless people of Bury."

Bury's planning control sub-committee approved the development of eight terraced houses and 16 flats on the Baron Street site.