Leamington Winter Support Night Shelter at risk of “being made homeless”

The Leamington Winter Support (LWS) Night Shelter is at risk of “being made homeless within a matter of weeks”.

LWS Night Shelter, currently located at the former Leamington Priors Club, was set to move to the former Old Italian Club in Packington Place.

According to the Leamington Observer, Warwick District Council were set to “revamp” the Old Italian Club, “including the creation of a dormitory style room, a kitchen and communal dining area”. However, “the building was found to be unfit for further redevelopment” and the owners of the Priors Club “have secured planning permission for it to be redeveloped for an alternative use”.

MP for Warwick and Leamington, Matt Western, expressed his concern at the potential closure of LWS Night Shelter.

He stated: “LWS Night Shelter is threatened with being made homeless in a matter of weeks. I’ve been in contact with the Council to help find a solution, and they are telling me that they will try and find alternative accommodation.

“It’s extremely disappointing that LWS were told that they would be able to use the Italian Club premises but this is no longer available to them. I’ve asked the Council to find alternative premises for the charity as those who depend on LWS will be left without their valued and compassionate support.

It’s simply a shocking indictment of our society that we are in the situation where we are so reliant on charities to provide services for an increasing number of people who are in poverty, hungry, rough sleeping or homeless

– Matt Western

“It’s simply a shocking indictment of our society that we are in the situation where we are so reliant on charities to provide services for an increasing number of people who are in poverty, hungry, rough sleeping or homeless.

He added: “It is my strong belief that while the Government are not doing enough to address poverty and reduce rough sleeping, we should support charities as much as possible.”

In a statement, Directors of LWS Night Shelter, Sarah Chapman and Susan Rutherford said:  “LWS had been working with Warwick District Council for some time to find and renovate this new building, and we are obviously extremely disappointed at this setback.

“The new site would have given us more space for our increasing number of guests, as well as allowing us to extend our offering and provide much needed shower facilities and better storage – which at the moment, we are unable to do.

“Understandably our guests are anxious about the uncertainty surrounding our current premises, but are enthusiastic about the prospect of a new building and are keen to offer their own time and skills in any way they can to make this a reality.”

The current location has been the “temporary” location since it was opened by two University of Warwick students in 2015.