A former care home in Hitchin is set to become a hostel for up to 86 homeless people after North Herts Council's planning committee voted to allow the change.

Anderson House in Florence Street, near the junction with Nightingale Road, was built in the 1980s as purpose-built sheltered housing for elderly people.

But Settle, who ran the care home, decided it was no longer suitable for their needs. It has since been used by live-in guardians and is now empty.

A sale has been agreed with One YMCA, a housing association that provides accommodation for homeless people in the Home Counties.

They plan to use the 48 flats and houses on the site to accommodate up to 86 people, mostly single people.

The aim is to help the residents lead independent lives, including moving them on into their own accommodation.

In 2023/24, North Herts Council had to find accommodation for 221 single homeless people, with waiting lists already in place. Council officers warned that it is currently "reliant on hotel placements to fulfil its legal duties."

Previously approved plans for a small homeless hostel at the Sanctuary in Hitchin are now "under review," with the Anderson House scheme seen as offering "better amenity space and other facilities". Meanwhile, a successful planning application for a 40-bed hostel in Letchworth appears to have fallen through.

The council's planning committee unanimously supported granting permission for the Anderson House plans at its meeting yesterday (Tuesday, November 3).

Cllr Jon Clayden said: "It's clear there is a major need. There have been other schemes that have aimed to provide this kind of accommodation and haven't succeeded.

"It is quite clear that the Sanctuary … is not in a good way as a building and as a place for people to live.

"[Anderson House] does have the major advantage of being a building that is … largely already suitable and needs relatively little work.

"It's hard to look past that in terms of the possibility of providing much-needed accommodation for people in this situation."

Cllr Ian Mantle said there was a "great need" for the accommodation but added he was "very disappointed" the Proteas Way development had not gone ahead.

He concluded: "We've got to trust the people who are running this facility to know what they are doing and to do their jobs."

Councillors had heard objections to the plans from two members of the public, including Neil Dodds, who spoke on behalf of Hitchin Forum.

He said the group "strongly objects" to the proposal: "Its scale makes it unneighbourly and wholly inappropriate in the proposed location.

"It's just too big and unfair to impose it on this quiet residential area.

"We believe we are standing up for the great majority of the neighbours, who are understandably very worried about the effect of this major change of use on their and their family's lives."

Mr Dodds suggested Anderson House should have been used for affordable housing instead.

Other residents raised concerns that the changes may see a rise in crime and anti-social behaviour in the area, though Hertfordshire police did not object to the application.

Guy Foxell, chief executive officer of One YMCA, also spoke at the meeting.

He said he "genuinely empathises" with the concerns of residents, but suggested the new accommodation would be an improvement on what residents had "endured" when live-in guardians were residing at Anderson House.

Mr Foxell insisted it would be safe, pointing to plans for 24/7 support and a phone number that nearby residents could call at any time if they had an issue. CCTV will also be installed.

He said the voices of residents in the room "needed to be balanced" by the hundreds of homeless people requiring accommodation in North Hertfordshire.

Following a suggestion by Cllr Sean Nolan, a condition was added to the application requiring a two-metre high fence to be added between the site and neighbouring properties.