A new homeless shelter for Preston city centre has been delayed.

Preston City Council is due to kit out the former shop facing the city’s Flag Market in Market Street.

Council chiefs had committed to opening the new shelter by the end of January but Blog Preston understands negotiations over the lease of the building became protracted.

Read more: Preston won’t lose government funding despite controversial Ashton Park development plans being ditched

The new night shelter is due to be a permanent 16-bed shelter operating from 12noon to 9am.

At present emergency overnight accommodation, provided by The Foxton Centre, is full nearly every night of the week.

Cabinet member for communities and social justice, councillor Nweeda Khan, told Blog Preston: “The Night Service has encountered a slight delay due to circumstances out of the Council’s control with the building contractor starting on site next week. The fit-out works are expected to take four weeks.

“A report presented at Jan Council (30 Jan) regarding Preston City Council’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Service Provision has been approved by Members and a recruitment drive will now commence to support the new plans.”

The report referenced by Cllr Khan was restricted from the public and media – with the city council saying it contained commercially sensitive information. The city council said they would outline their full homelessness strategy in due course and declined to give further information at this stage as to what provision was due to be supported.

Funding for the new homeless shelter – which is to cost more than £300,000 – is coming from additional government funding to tackle rising numbers of rough sleepers across the country. The city council is also ploughing in nearly £100,000 it had earmarked in its reserves.

The delay to the night shelter comes as the city council prepares to announce a new city-wide strategy for tackling homelessness against the back-drop of more than 70 people being spotted sleeping rough on Preston’s streets during an official count in October last year.

But a war of words broke out between the city council and one of Preston’s largest charities – The Foxton Centre – and the city’s Labour MP Sir Mark Hendrick – over where additional government funding to tackle homelessness was going after The Foxton said they may have to shutter their Day Centre in Fox Street due to reallocations of city council funds.

Mr Hendrick said on January 21 in a social media post as he re-shared a government announcement about increased government funding for local councils: “Good news for Preston? An extra £91,000 from government, in addition to the uplift of £800k announced in Dec.

“This ought to be good news for homeless provision in Preston. However the future of The Foxton Centre is under threat and staff have been given notice of redundancy. What is happening Preston Council?”

The city’s ruling Labour group hit back with a social media post saying: “Despite the misleading media headlines, we are increasing provision in the city for the homeless in response to what to what the actual service users have told us. More details will follow once the plans go to full Council.”

The Labour group’s post included a link to a BBC article claiming homeless services in the city were ‘at risk’.

Blog Preston approached both Sir Mark Hendrick and The Foxton Centre for further comment about homelessness funding but both declined to comment at this stage.

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