CONTROVERSIAL plans to build temporary accommodation for homeless families on a mobile home park have been given the green light.

Wokingham Borough Council has been granted planning permission to replace 12 mobile homes at Grovelands Park in Winnersh with 23 self-contained prefabricated units.

The council is expecting an increase in homelessness in the coming months, due to the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it does not want to house families in expensive bed and breakfasts outside Wokingham.

According to the council, these small two-bedroom units “would not be appropriate for permanent habitation” but families will be able to stay there for up to 12 months while it helps them find a home.

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The plans were approved by the council’s Planning Committee at a meeting on February 10, even though 12 people currently living on the council-owned mobile home park and several councillors objected to the planning application.

Simon Price, the council’s head of housing, said: “Wokingham, along with other local authorities, must prepare for the exit of Covid.

“We must manage a surge in homeless applications and an increase in the homeless population as we come through this.”

The council accepts the units will be smaller than most two-bedroom flats, as they will provide a combined living, dining and kitchen space of 21.7 sqm.

Simon Weeks, chair of the Planning Committee, said: “Yes, they may be undersized but people here are in transit to better accommodation.

“They have no doubt come from an inadequate accommodation and this will act as an intermediate point before we are able to house them in our own council houses or other affordable homes.”

He also said families will find the units to be “significantly more spacious” than bed and breakfast rooms.

Objectors claimed the units will be an eyesore and have raised concerns about the inadequate sewage system at the mobile home park, fire safety and drug use.

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But the council says the units will be located at the southern end of the large park and “not be visible from most areas due to the presence of existing trees and vegetation”.

It states that each unit will be fitted with an automatic fire suppression system and covered with a non-flammable material that provides “60-minute fire resistance from inside to out”.

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue has not objected to the proposals.

The council has also promised to upgrade the current sewage and drainage system at the mobile home park and said the is no evidence to support claims from one objector who said “future occupiers would be drug addicts”.