South Holland District Council to offer accommodation for rough sleepers during cold snap

Rough sleepers will be offered accommodation during the cold snap which is due to bite in the coming days.

South Holland District Council has put its Severe Emergency Protocol procedure into place and wants to hear of homeless people before temperatures start to plummet.

The Met Office has forecast that temperatures will drop to -2 from Sunday in the South Holland area prompting the UK Health Security Agency to issue a yellow cold health alert.

A council social media post stated: “With temperatures set to be below freezing from Sunday, January 14, our Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) procedure will be put into place.

“The Local Authority will provide accommodation to any verified rough sleepers, regardless of status, for the duration of the cold spell.

“If anyone knows of someone sleeping rough, this can be reported Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm 01476 406080 and out of hours 01522 782235 or via the Streetlink website at www.streetlink.org.uk.”

The cold health alert is set to be in place until Friday, January 18.

It warns of an “increased use of health care services by vulnerable populations and an increase in risk to health for individuals aged 65 years and over, those with pre-existing health conditions, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and some other vulnerable groups, such as those sleeping rough.”