Former B&B to become housing for young people with learning disabilities in Cornwall
The council has voted to turn the property in Liskeard into supported housing
Last updated 6th Oct 2021
A guest house in Liskeard can be converted into housing for people needing extra support despite concerns about the loss of tourist accommodation.
Cornwall Council’s east sub-area planning committee voted unanimously to support the plans to turn a former bed and breakfast into accommodation for young people with learning disabilities and autism.
Under the plans the property in Higher Lux Street will be converted into four one-bedroom flats and four supported living en-suite bedsit rooms with communal facilities.
Liskeard Town Council said that while it was in favour of supported living accommodation they felt there were better sites for such facilities.
The town council was also concerned about the loss of tourist accommodation in the town which they said was important for the local economy.
Councillors heard that the property had been put on the market for sale for 12 months as a guest house but there had been no interest.
But the town council said that this was done during lockdown when they said nobody would have been looking to invest in such a business.
Carole Edmond, CEO of Glassmoon Services, said that it was a unique scheme which would help local people.
She said that specialist services would be provided for young people and adults such as those with learning disabilities and autism.
Ms Edmond said that her company had already adapted an existing bungalow in Liskeard to provide a home for a young person who had previously been in an “institutionalised setting in London, over 200 miles from home” and the new property had enabled them to return home to Cornwall and receive specialist care.
Local Cornwall councillor for the area Nick Craker acknowledged the town council’s concerns about the loss of tourism accommodation and said that there had been some “offence” taken by a report which suggested that Liskeard was not a tourist destination.
But he said there was “incredible” demand for supported housing in Cornwall and that both adult and children’s services at Cornwall Council were in favour of the proposals.
Committee member Adam Paynter proposed that the application be approved saying that the new facility would create new jobs and would enable young people who need supported living to remain in Cornwall instead of being moved out of the county.
The committee voted unanimously to approve the planning application.