Plans for new children’s home in Barnsley set to be approved

The property, on Churchfield Avenue in Cudworth, would have staff on site 24 hours a day to provide care for one youngster.

Planning documents, to be considered by Barnsley Council’s planning board next week, state that shifts will run 8am to 8pm with a 15 minute handover, and ‘there are available parking spaces at that time’.

The planning officer adds, in their report, that children’s care homes are normally set in residential areas, to provide a ‘typical’ setting for children to grow up in.

The property would cater for one child and one carer, with a maximum of two carers at any one time during a handover, and the officer report adds that the activities within the property ‘would typically reflect those within neighbouring residential properties’.

The applicant has also agreed to a condition which ensures that any child resident at the premises is from Barnsley.

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The proposal has attracted objections from ward councillors, on the grounds of antisocial behaviour, ‘too many’ care homes in the area, and say that the proposal is ‘unsuitable’ in a densely populated area.

One of the objections states: “The area has many private landlords and, in the past, has suffered anti-social behaviour issues and drugs problems which residents have regularly complained about. This could impact on the residency and those within it.”

Another adds: “The business use and nature of the proposal suggests clients with complex and intense needs which could impact on neighbouring residents regardless of management in such a closely defined space and community. Indeed, part of the area is older people’s bungalows which clearly are not a suitable location for such activities.”

The officer report states that the council’s record show that as of April 2020, there was only one other private registered children’s home in the Cudworth area, and no other recent planning applications have been approved for care homes in the area.

It concludes that the concerns have been acknowledged, but ‘the management company for this scheme is not the same as for the other care homes that have raised problems and each application needs to be judged on its individual merits’.

It adds: “Whilst there are concerns that there may be a turnover of single residents at this address, similar occurrences could happen if the property was rented out as a residential dwelling which could happen without the need for planning permission.”