A NEWPORT car park will be leased out to a housing association to provide supportive housing.

The decision to grant a 250-year lease to housing association Linc Cymru will be officially confirmed next Monday, March 22.

Linc Cymru proposes to build 12 ‘modular flats’ on half of Hill Street car park to provide permanent homes to those in need.

However, some concerns were raised by councillors about the plans to dispose of the site.

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Stow Hill ward member Cllr Miqdad Al-Nuaimi said the report had caused “a lot of alarm among the neighbouring residents, organisations and places of worship”.

Cllr Al-Nuaimi also criticised the council for only alerting the ward members two days before the publication date of the report.

He said that “local knowledge was not utilised” and that “it is not clear from the report what other potential sites might have been considered and why they were discounted”.

The decision report says requirement around the use of £920,000 Welsh Government phase two homeless funding meant a site had to be found soon, and that other locations were considered.

The ward member for Allt-yr-yn, Cllr Matthew Evans, said he “strongly” objected to the proposals and that it is a “poorly conceived project, which will do nothing to improve and enhance a prime city centre site”.

Cllr Evans said there are more than 1,500 empty properties in Newport, which could be utilised.

However, the report says the proposed units are for single people and Welsh Government have confirmed that studios and bedsits are not suitable for the funding.

The decision was taken by the deputy leader and cabinet member for city services Cllr Roger Jeavons and Cllr Majid Rahman, the cabinet member for assets.

After the lease is approved next week, the housing association will start a pre-application consultation, which will allow various stakeholders to have a say on the proposals.