A number of businesses close to the former Ibis Hotel in Cardiff said their staff no longer feel safe after the local authority started using the building as a hostel for the homeless.

Cardiff Council, which acquired the former hotel on Tyndall Street close to city centre for £12.8m, used emergency planning legislation for the building to provide accommodation to homeless people. It is now seeking retrospective planning consent to turn what was 157-bedroom hotel into a 98-bedroom residency for the homeless for the next three years.

The former hotel has been used to provide temporary accommodate to the homeless since the turn of this year, during which time nearby businesses said they have witnessed a rise in anti-social behaviour with one firm, TrakCel, warning that if the council grant

See Full Page