WISBECH will get a new �2 million hostel for homeless people after a dramatic u-turn last night by Fenland District Council. The council s planning committee tied four to four on the revised application by the Luminus Group to convert the former Queen s H

WISBECH will get a new �2 million hostel for homeless people after a dramatic u-turn last night by Fenland District Council.

The council's planning committee tied four to four on the revised application by the Luminus Group to convert the former Queen's Hotel into a homeless hostel and community centre.

It took the casting vote of planning committee chairman, councillor Martin Curtis, to win the day and reverse an earlier decision by the same committee on the proposals.

The conversion, bitterly opposed by Wisbech Town Council, was the subject of a massive behind-the-scenes lobbying effort but the Conservative-controlled administration which has pledged hundreds of thousands of pounds towards the scheme.