A FAILING care home that was shut down over safety fears will reopen as an asylum hostel this summer.

The building on Wilmere Lane in Widnes near Bold Heath, was formerly known as Lilycross Care home and housed 60 patients, but will now provide temporary accommodation for 120 asylum seekers. 

It was shut down by the Care Quality Commission after being branded inadequate in all services.

The conversion faced wide-spread opposition from locals, who stormed out of a planning meeting in January last year when Serco Service Providers were granted permission to change the function of the building.

More than 2,000 residents raised concerns over their safety, enforced sharing  and whether the building was actually fit for its purpose given it would be housing twice the number of people it was designed for.

Members of  the Save Lilycross action group claim the building breaches fire safety regulations because it doesn’t have a sprinkler system and is 15 bathrooms short under licensing rules for Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO) rules .

They have also lobbied for the developers to upgrade the building’s water tanker, claiming it caused raw sewerage problems when it housed 60 people and will not cope with double the occupants. 

Karen Forde, a member of the Save Lilycross action group who lives on the housing estate near the Wilmere building, said: “Why should we have to endure a stinking smell of sewerage day in and day out. We are the ones who have to live here, not them, but no matter how much we scream and shout they just don’t understand how much of an issue it is going to be. It’s just not fair.”

The group has asked the service provider company to provide evidence from Klargester Waste Management  and  the environmental agency that the tanker is fit for purpose.

They have also arranged for an independent environmental expert from a local University  to monitor the water point directly stemming from the building to test it for pollutants.

Karen vowed: “We won’t give up. This building won’t be open long.  They’ll give up before we do.”

The asylum hostel will provide initial  accommodation to  asylum seekers  for less than three weeks, after which they will be moved into dispersed accommodation across the north west. 

In a statement, a spokesperson from Serco said the company  has now completed all the statutory planning, contractual and environmental requirements for the lease and conversion of the former nursing home.

They said work will now commence in line with building regulations guidance to make the necessary improvements to the existing site before the first asylum seekers arrive in late summer. 

Improvements the company say they are making include a refurbishment programme to ensure the property meets all the appropriate Home Office standards,  new amenities such as a shop and communal activity areas and modernised kitchens. 

There will also  be a Serco team at the Centre 24/7 who will provide round the clock care and support to the asylum seekers.

The service providers confirmed they will apply for a House in Multiple Occupation (H.M.O.) licence for the building and will continue to work closely with the local authority, the Home Office and statutory partners such as health, the police and the fire service.

Jenni Halliday, Serco’s Compass contract director, said: “As part of this process, Serco has sought and received all the necessary planning approvals. “We have also engaged and consulted extensively with the Local Authority, elected members and the local community to explain what we are doing and how we will do it.  There has largely been a constructive and helpful reaction to this open approach. 

“Serco already manages three other such Initial Accommodation facilities in Liverpool, which have been running satisfactorily for many years.”