Plans to expand homeless bus shelter in Weymouth
There's plans to expand a homeless shelter in Weymouth to the town's park and ride.
The Bus Shelter Dorset, a charity which supports rough sleepers, has lodged plans to move to a new location.
The charity is planning to move it's operations to Weymouth Park and ride. They're current;y based at the Beach Car Park near Lodmoor Country Park.
It plans to create 12 self-contained units for rough sleepers, with a large communal area too for up to 10 years.
They're not currently able to use the bus as shared accomodation because of COVID-19.
It's hoped they'll also be able to build some micro-flats in the future as the next stage of the project.
Emily McCarron is the CEO of the Bus Shelter. She said:
"The kind of idea and ethos of what we do is going to be very much the same. It's all about a community environment where people are supported at whatever stage of their journey they're on.
"We offer non-judgmental support to people and help them to look at where they want to go, and help them achieve their goals."
The purpose built units will look like shipping containers, albeit a little nicer, with a sleeping area, shower and toilet. Communal areas will include the kitchens and living space.
Plans are for three units, each with four self-contained rooms with water and electricity.
Rough sleepers who were staying at the Bus Shelter were taken in by the Riviera Hotel in Weymouth earlier this year, and are now staying at Swanage Youth Hostel because of the pandemic.
Before the lockdown, they were relying on Weymouth College gymnasium's showers.
Emily says if the plans go ahead, it will be a relief:
"We were already in quite a precarious situation at the Beach car park because we didn't have any services, so we had no water or electric there.
"It was a small amount of space but this will be definitely a great opportunity to develop our project and move forward so it's really exciting."