The Government is handing over part of Admiralty Arch in London to 60 young homeless people under the auspices of the charity Centrepoint.

As part of this year's programme of Government-funded cold weather shelters, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, is to meet the residents who will be housed in the listed building until March 1998.

The shelter will allow 60 young people to come in from the cold

Ministers hope the opening of Admiralty Arch - which has been virtually empty since Ministry of Defence civil servants moved out in 1994 - will encourage owners of empty properties to do likewise.

'A flagship for undesirables'

But plans to use the elegant Edwardian masterpiece as a winter hostel have prompted concern and anger among some naval chiefs and senior officers.

BBC Correspondent John Andrew, reports from Admiralty Arch

The Government was accused of "gesture politics" when the plans were announced last October.

Some MPs argued that, while the homeless should be cared for, the decision to use a treasured architectural jewel was wrong.

Tory Crispin Blunt, former political adviser to ex-Defence Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, said at the time: "Admiralty Arch should be preserved for an appropriate purpose. Using a beautiful building in a central site for homeless people will attract people that it shouldn't. That could be a problem. It could become a flagship for undesirables."

Julian Brazier, a Tory member of the Commons Defence Select Committee, said: "We all want to see homeless people given shelter. But it does seem to me sad that the Royal Navy's links with this building should be severed in this way."

One MP feared that allocating the building on Trafalgar Square to the homeless could encourage their exploitation by drug peddlers and the sex industry. Most opponents of the plans believe the Arch, should be retained by the Navy.

But supporters say the Centrepoint refuge aims to offer more than simply food and comfort for rough sleepers by working to rehabilitate youngsters and give them a purpose in life.

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