A building in the middle of Bury’s bar strip will soon become emergency housing for families facing homelessness. Vacant floors above The Monkey House bar on Silver Street will be refurbished into temporary accommodation, after a planning application was approved by Bury council.
A building in the middle of Bury’s bar strip will soon become emergency housing for families facing homelessness. Vacant floors above The Monkey House bar on Silver Street will be refurbished into temporary accommodation, after a planning application was approved by Bury council.
JDBR Investments LTD will renovate unused offices on the first and second floors of 18 Silver Street into two flats. These would each contain two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and a flexible living area.
The new apartments would connect to 20 to 22 Silver Street, which are already in use as emergency accommodation and also owned by JDBR Investments LTD.
The plans originally proposed creating four one-bedroom apartments across the two floors, but an amendment was requested by town planners to ensure each floor met national regulations on minimum room sizes.
Planning officer Charlotte Orrell wrote: “[The units] would still be considered residential dwellings and so it was deemed that they should still provide an acceptable level of amenity to future occupants. The proposed was therefore amended to only feature one flat on each of the first and second floors.”
The housing is part of a council-backed scheme to create more emergency accommodation to avoid the expensive use of hotels.
Mr Sam Golding from Gold Sketch Studios LTD, representing the developer in the application, said: “The proposed units are designed to be built to a high, modern standard and crucially allow families to remain together, maintaining privacy and continuity within their local community and school catchment areas.”
He added the flats were ‘not intended to house immigrants’ and would help local residents facing hardship ‘to remain in their local area’, with good transport links and lots of local amenities.
Greater Manchester Police have also recommended a security plan for the building.
No external changes will be made, but minor internal alterations would ‘ensure the continued life of the building’.
Bury Council already discussed backing the scheme in January 2025. JDBR put forward 18-22 Silver St and Huntley House on Chesham Fold Rd for emergency housing.
A report on behalf of coun Clare Cummins, in charge of housing services, found that Bury was experiencing ‘an affordable housing shortage crisis’.
“There has been a significant increase of homeless single people and families requiring temporary accommodation,” she said. “Bury Council is currently utilising Bed and Breakfast and hotel accommodation which is costly and does not provide the correct space for people to develop independent living skills for tenancy sustainment in the future.
“For the Council this solution will be far less expensive and more desirable than the current use of B&B accommodation.”
The developer will have three years to start the work.
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