Well said Curtaintwitching. The councillor's comments amazed me at the extent to which they completely failed to address the comments from this thread. If there are good arguments for the council's intended use in preference of school places (for example) then I would be open to them. But there is not even a pretence of a counter-argument.

I would be interested in signing a petition. I wonder if the councillor could give us an indication of how many signatories a petition in favour of converting this building to a school, rather than a temporary shelter for the homeless, it would take for the council to consider changing it's plans.