A package of building improvements has been agreed for the troubled homeless people's hostel in Sussex Street, Winchester.

The council cabinet has agreed to spend over £180,000 on the accommodation, which is close to the city centre.

The hostel comprises four large semi-detached properties, converted to provide 25 individual flats and bedsits. There are 22 single-room bedsits and three two-room family flats.

"Let's hope Sussex Street will have a safer and brighter future," said Sheila Campbell, cabinet chairman.

The council property has been in sharp focus in the past year because of the murder there of a resident, Valerie Tallett. Kerry Vincent and Steven Lochead were jailed in July for Miss Tallett's death.

Cabinet members agreed to a two-phase approach to the hostel's future. In the first, for which money has now been allocated, a number of measures will be introduced to make the building more secure.

These include a new fire alarm system, doors checked and overhauled, protective sheeting to staircase walls, sprinklers in all rooms, strengthening of ceilings, improved ventilation, and grills will be fitted to windows to stop items being thrown and people from gaining access to roofs.

Clive Broomfield, the head of property services, told members: "The work for which funding is sought in this first phase needs to be undertaken now if the hostel is to stay open.

"If it were closed, B&B accommodation would be the obvious alternative and with limited local availability, currently at £200 to £300 a week, would be totally unsatisfactory for the individuals and families involved and very expensive for the council's general fund."

The works would allow the Sussex Street hostel to be used for some time to come and continue in operation while longer-term options, the second phase of the council's approach, were considered, Mr Broomfield said.

MP, Mark Oaten, commented: "I'm very pleased the city council have agreed to these improvements. I asked for the hostel to be completely renovated last year.

"I made three or four visits, some without announcing who I was, and was unhappy about some things I saw, for example, that couples were next to single people and I did not think that appropriate, especially where there was a baby. But the improvements are good news."