Objections to children’s care home plans in Stafford

Increased noise and potential parking issues are among the concerns for residents of The Garthlands and School Lane who have written to Stafford Borough Council urging planners to reject the change of use proposals.

Paramount Children Care has put forward the application for the six-bedroom property at The Garthlands. The application form stated that it would be used by “children and young people from the age of eight to 18 years old who are in care and may also have emotional and behavioural difficulties”.

A supporting letter from the applicant stated: “Our overall aims are to ensure that children within our home are treated with the upmost respect, dignity and care whilst empowering them to go on and achieve positive outcomes in life. Ofsted encourage providers to locate their provisions in geographical areas where there is low crime rate, good schools, and recreational activities – 18 The Garthlands meets these criteria.

“I feel that having a children’s residential care home in the local area will bring several added benefits such as creating more jobs for the local community. With the effect of Covid-19 and individuals being made redundant and unemployment on the rise we want to create jobs for the local community which will only be a positive step.

“We have a bespoke matching process when children are placed within our home. We ensure that the right children are matched with each other in the home regarding personality so this then reduces any issues if they were to arise.

“Children will feel empowered and develop life skills as they are living within a warm and stable environment which will be their home and will learn basic life skills from budgeting, cooking, personal hygiene to how to behave in different environments.

“The home will have a private health and wellbeing practitioner and 24 hour supervision and care is maintained at all times within the home. This ensures that care for these children is always at the highest standard. All staff are suitably trained and qualified to work within children’s residential care.

“Creating a sense of community spirit is important as this is the young person’s home, and they need to have a sense of belonging and identity in the community.”

Stafford Borough Council has received more than 10 objections to the proposals.

A resident of The Garthlands said: “The applicant has claimed that it benefits from a private driveway that could provide up to parking for eight vehicles. This is a shared driveway, and the (property) owners are responsible for its upkeep.

“It is a narrow access road that is wide enough for one car only. Cars are not able to park on the driveway as it would block the route of any other vehicle towards or away from the properties and there is no way for cars to turn round. Cars visiting the property would therefore need to reverse back down the full length of the shared driveway, which is significantly in excess of the maximum permitted 25m.

“The driveway is not suitable for use by multiple cars on a daily basis – it is merely a stone-covered track and the proposal that up to eight cars per day would be accessing the property would lead to a rapid degeneration of the state of repair and would need significant maintenance.

“As cars are unable to park on the single-width private driveway they would inevitably be forced to park on the public roadway and turning circle outside my house. This would make it impossible for me to park at my own property, and for any visitors to my house to be able to park their car outside my house.”

A School Lane resident said: “When moving into the area we chose to buy a house on this development due to the fact that it was quiet, all properties were of a high quality and all were to be private dwellings and that there were restrictive covenants in place that would protect this status.

“The request to allow change of use of the property from a dwelling to a care home is clearly changing the use of the property from residential to business, which is clearly restricted under the covenant.

“In addition, given it will be a 24-hour facility requiring attendance of support staff working shifts or visiting in emergency situations, it will increase the number of vehicles requiring access to and egress from the property and will clearly increase noise and disruption throughout the entire day/night. This is also restricted under the covenant.

“The property backs onto my garden, and any disruption or disturbances that arise within the property and its grounds, potentially at any time during the day or night, will have a direct impact on my family and property.

“It should also be noted that the property faces onto the main A449 road, only separated by the shared unadopted road and a less than robust privet-like fence. This can easily be breached and would therefore, place younger children at risk of running onto a very busy and dangerous road.”

But another School Lane resident said: “I am aware of a petition being raised against this application but wanted to add my support to the scheme.

“In order to give young disadvantaged people the chance of a good start to life they need to have a home where they can grow and develop within regular communities. This change of use would give the young residents just this chance and as long as the management/security of the dwelling is commensurate with the residents’ needs then I do not see the development impacting at all negatively on the area.”