HOMELESS people have been given the go ahead to come in from the cold and stay overnight at the historic Old Market Hall in Monmouth.

A planning application lodged by the Monmouth Group of Parishes to convert part of the 180-year-old building into a temporary winter shelter for rough sleepers was approved by county councillors last month.

The staffed facility will operate from January to March on the first floor of the Grade II-listed Old Market Hall, which also houses the Monmouth and Nelson museums, and have eight camp beds.

Anyone showing signs of being drunk or under the influence of drugs will not be permitted, and guests must leave by 8am.

The project will be run by Monmouth Churches, with the support of Monmouthshire Council and Gwent Police.

Members of Monmouth Town Council’s planning committee, which met the previous week, backed the proposal, but some raised concerns about how homeless people would be fed, fire safety, the size of the facility, and whether they would be from outside the town.

The scheme follows on from last winter, when the Monmouth Churches Housing Group ran a night centre.

The group’s chairwoman, Rev Catherine Haynes, said: “The night shelter was operational from January where it ran for three nights a week over two months, providing accommodation in local church halls.

“Monmouthshire County Council, with whom we have a close working relationship, has given us a great deal of support over the last three to four years.

“We also work clo-sely with Gwent Police and other local agencies who are able to provide practical help for rough sleepers.”

The night shelter will be open seven days a week between 6pm and 8am.

The protocol of the homeless shelter will follow that of other pop-ups run by Monmouth Churches Night Shelter Group.

Guests of the shelter will be admitted one-by-one and have their bags checked on arrival.

Each guest will be given a camp bed, duvet in a duvet cover, as well as a sleeping bag with a lining sheet, sheet and pillow in a pillowcase from a box.

Records of those staying will be kept by wardens, who are there to ensure the smooth running of the night shelter.

A food box will provide mugs, milk, tea, coffee, sugar, plastic spoons and flasks with hot water.

Guests can be excluded should they break the rules, and warnings will be given and time allowed for the situation to calm down.

Issues such as dispruptive behaviour may incur an exclusion of one night, while serious misbehaviour – violence, stealing or dealing drugs – will incur immediate exclusion for a period of time.

The Old Market Hall on Priory Street beside Agincourt Square was built in the late 1830s by Monmouth architect George Vaughan Maddox as the centrepiece of a redevelopment of the town.

It was severely damaged by fire in 1963 after the Monmouthshire Beacon’s newspaper storage office went up in flames, ending the paper’s 87-year stay there.

The hall reopened in 1969 after being partly rebuilt, going on to a host of different uses, such as the museums, county council offices, the town’s post office, a labour exchange, the county court, a tourist information centre, a cafe and a gym.