Watch: First homeless pod house arrives in Newport

Last week, the Argus revealed that plans to turn a section of Hill Street Car Park in the city centre into pods for the homeless were moving ahead, despite the project receiving a setback at the planning application stage.

And yesterday, the first of those pods arrived on site – which in itself brought with it some challenges.

The clue might be in its name, but Hill Street Car Park is located halfway up one of the steepest streets in the city, and the task in bringing the prefabricated pods all the way from Hull to Newport offered a series of logistical challenges – not least the hill itself.

Two pods aboard lorries formed the advance party, but, while one was able to navigate Park Square, the other struggled to climb the hill with its heavy load – a matter not helped by recent poor weather leaving the road slightly damp.

But, after expert navigation, the first pod made its way to the building site, where a crane was able to lift it into place on the previously underused eastern side of the car park.

The first pod being lifted into place

And, with one pod in place, it is hoped that the process will be made easier throughout the week, as the rest of the modular homes are brought to the site and lifted into place.

From there, it is thought that work to make the site ready for living can be completed fairly quickly, in potentially just a matter of weeks, with residents already being identified as suitable candidates for the temporary accommodation.

However, there is still a planning application obstacle in the way – though there is renewed hope that this can shortly be resolved.

How did we get here?

Despite the scheme to build the pods being recommended for approval by Newport City Council’s planning officers in December 2021, the planning committee controversially voted to refuse the plans, by a margin of five votes to four.

But, under Welsh Government granted Permitted Development Rights, building work started on site in September 2021 – and can continue, though developers are still required to secure planning permission within 12 months of work starting.

In what is something of a twist, the rejection by councillors comes after Newport City Council agreed to lease a section of the car park to Linc Cymru, for a period of 250 years.

Now, Linc are in the process of submitting a modified planning application, which seeks to address some of the concerns made by nearby residents, which largely concerned the design and appearance of the development.

What has been said about the plans?

The council’s housing officer who supported Linc’s application said: “I support these proposals which will provide much needed long term accommodation for households that are currently in temporary homelessness accommodation. During the pandemic there has been a significant increase in people approaching the local authority for assistance with housing and homelessness.

“Once a household has been placed in temporary homelessness accommodation there are currently limited options for them to move on to long term permanent accommodation.

“There is not sufficient housing association stock in Newport to meet this need and private rented sector properties are increasingly unaffordable. This development is an important part of local authority plans to increase the supply of affordable social housing in Newport.”

They were assembled in Hull, and brought to Newport on lorries

Ahead of the arrival of the pods, Linc’s executive director property and commercial, Louise Attwood said: “The homeless crisis in Wales is acute in Newport. We were obviously disappointed our application to provide secure, high quality permanent homes for 12 vulnerable people using innovative technology on an underused car park was refused.

“But we have listened to what councillors and our neighbours had to say about the original application and have made some important changes to our application to seek to address those concerns.

“I really want to reassure residents that the new homes are really well-designed, attractive and high-quality. This development will be extremely well-managed.”