A group of concerned villagers has formed an action group to campaign to stop a local hotel being used to house homeless people.
Members of Outlane Action Group are due to hold a meeting in Outlane, Huddersfield, on Monday, January 8, to discuss plans for a public meeting which they hope will be attended by West Yorkshire Police, local MPs and councillors.
Local residents, who are frustrated and angry, claim that the Old Golf House Hotel in the village is not a suitable place for vulnerable and homeless people. They claim the village has few facilities and fear that crime has risen as a result of the hotel’s new role.
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A spokesman for Outlane Action Group told YorkshireLive : “Our main goal is for Kirklees Council and Calderdale Council to stop accommodating people at the Hotel and to find a more suitable location, including a location that will better suit and be more beneficial to those being accommodated by the councils.
“Ideally, we would like to see the Hotel returned to what could be described as being a regular functioning hotel, with paying guests. If this is not possible we would fully accept the Hotel closing permanently.”
Members of the action group have been emailing councillors to complain that the authorities have not been ‘open and transparent’ on the issue.
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Last month a homeless man said he did not feel safe living at the Old Golf House Hotel after he was placed there around six months ago by Kirklees Council.
He claimed there had been fights in the hotel corridors and trouble in the car park that resulted in the police attending.
Villages have also lodged complaints with Kirklees Council over what they claim is the ‘unauthorised’ use of the hotel as a temporary base for homeless people.
They claim the ‘change of use’ to what they have branded a ‘hostel’ should have been subject to a planning application. One of the complainants, who did not want to be named, said politicians had claimed the premises was operating as a hotel but locals had attempted to book a room but had been unable to do so.
Kirklees Council has previously stated that is has been working with West Yorkshire Police to make sure temporary accommodation sites “don’t impact the safety of residents.”
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