HOMELESS people and rough sleepers will continue to be housed in student halls of residence for a further 18 months.

Despite multiple objections, permission has been granted for Canonsgrove, in Trull, to carry on offering homeless accommodation until the end of March 2023.

Bridgwater and Taunton College, which owns the halls, successfully applied to Somerset West and Taunton Council to alter a planning agreement limiting who can live there.

But planning officers have urged the college and the housing and homelessness service at SWT to "reconsider the provision of transport to and from the centre of Taunton".

Quantock Halls at Canonsgrove, which was formerly used as a police training centre, has been used since April last year as accommodation for homeless people and rough sleepers to protect them from Covid.

A number of objections were lodged with SWT, with concerns raised over anti-social behaviour; distance from Taunton town centre; poor public transport links; crime; noise and disturbance; and detrimental impact on the local community.