Shelter from winter cold at Hope Church for homeless

The shelter was made available at the Hope Church at The Granary in St Martin's Quarter in Worcester on Tuesday night and will be available until Sunday.

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This coincides with the current cold snap with three days of weather warnings issued by the Met Office for snow and ice in various parts of the UK.

Shelter: Hope Church (Image: Hope Church)

Worcester City Council was not able to provide figures about how many people used the shelter on Tuesday.

Councillor Jabba Riaz, Chair of Worcester City Council’s Communities Committee, said: “Together with neighbouring district councils we activated our Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) on Tuesday this week when temperatures dropped and it will remain in place until Sunday, December 11 when the cold snap is expected to be over.

“SWEP is activated whenever it is forecast to be zero degrees or lower and all partners across the city are aware of the SWEP action and can direct people to shelter and warmth."

Jonathan Sutton, chief executive of St Paul's Hostel, said the SWEP initative was 'really necessary thing' for the city, protecting people from the harshest extremes of the elements.

He added: "The overwhelming evidence is that sleeping rough on the street or in some other form of shelter like a tent is bad for your physical and mental health.

"Anything that keeps people on the streets and doesn't encourage them to move into somewhere safe is a bad thing and, the longer they stay out rough sleeping, the worse it is for their health." 

If any members of the public are aware of somebody who may be sleeping rough, we would encourage them to report this to Streetlink on 0300 500 0914 or via www.streetlink.org.uk. That will trigger a notification to agencies, who will be able to attend and offer any necessary support.