Issue details
Use of Gardner Hall residential accommodation at Venns Road for key workers on short term basis from April 2020, for three months
The decision was taken to make available
overnight accommodation in Hereford city for key workers during
Covid-19 response phase (April to July 2020).
In March 2020 during the early stages of the Covid 19 emergency
response an urgent need was identified to establish temporary
accommodation for key workers in Hereford. Key workers defined as
NHS, social care, social workers, police/ emergency services
employees.
The rationale for this was;
• A member of a key workers household may display Covid 19
symptoms which would lead to a requirement for a 14 day quarantine
period. This could significantly reduce available key worker
capacity at a time of emergency.
• A key worker may live with a person who was being
‘shielded’, asked by government to isolate for 3
months. This may mean a key worker in the same household would be
unable to work for this period without alternative accommodation.
This again would reduce available capacity during emergency.
• Additional key worker capacity may be required in
Herefordshire, recruiting people from other areas of the UK who
would need somewhere to live.
• Due to the lockdown accommodation such as hotels, bed and
breakfasts were ordered to close, and private rental opportunities
severely limited.
As such a decision was taken to make the council owned student
accommodation in Gardner Hall available free of charge to key
workers who needed temporary accommodation.
As lockdown measures are currently being lifted with alternative
accommodation to be available again from July a subsequent decision
has been taken to close Gardner Hall for key workers from the end
of July 2020 and not extend this provision.
It is anticipated that between September and December 2020 Gardner
Hall will be required as temporary accommodation for Hereford
College of Arts students not able to be accommodated in the Station
Approach development which has been delayed due to Covid 19. As
such, previous negotiations with NMITE to lease the Gardner Hall
accommodation have been suspended until January 2021. NMITE will
continue to utilise the Gardner Hall office space on the ground
floor in the interim.
Decision type: Non-key
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Notice of proposed decision first published: 26/06/2020
Decision due: 26 June 2020 by Director of Economy and Place (Historic)
Contact: Roger Allonby, Service Director Economy and Growth Email: Roger.Allonby@herefordshire.gov.uk Tel: 01432 260330.
Decisions