Shelter will replace previous facility in Crown Street, which has been sold for redevelopment, and will continue to be operated by homeless charity The Whitechapel Centre

Liverpool City Council is to open a severe weather shelter for rough sleepers in the city centre this winter.

The council has submitted a planning application to set up the facility in Camden Street, off London Road, in what was a former dance studio.

The previous shelter, located at St Stephen’s Church inn Crown Street, has been sold for redevelopment but the new site is deemed a better location as it is based closer to the a range of other support services.

The shelter will continue to be operated by The Whitechapel Centre and if planning is approved, following public consultation, it would be operational by mid-October.  

Last winter, Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson changed the rules to increase the shelter’s operations by allowing it to open on any given night where the temperature is forecast to drop below 2°c (instead of three consecutive nights at below 0°c), and that policy will continue this winter.

That decision was made following a report that showed that despite the city council funding 750 beds every night for people to take up, as part of a wider £10.8m annual programme to support the city’s homeless, a core number of around 15 to 20 are remaining on the city’s streets even in near to freezing conditions.

Mayor Anderson, who is to publish an independent report into improving services for rough sleepers next week, said: ‘’The relocation of Liverpool’s Severe Weather Shelter has been on the cards for some time and this new location is a far better place as it is much closer to other support services in the city centre.”