Bolton: Plans to change Chorley Old Road house into care home refused

Concerns about the application had been raised by Bolton Council's children’s services.

Members refused the  application for the change of use of the two-storey detached dwelling house - 372 Chorley Old Road - into a care home for up to three children due to concerns of safeguarding for children.

It would have been a home for up to three children aged between six and 18 looked after by three carers at a time, in shifts, with the care being  for 24 hours a day with a maximum of six people on site at any one time.

Planning officers had recommended approval of the planning application.

Director of Children’s Services, Bernie Brown, spoke as an objector to the plans at the meeting.

She said: “Assured Fostering and Assured Children’s Home have made this application however they stopped communicating with the local authority on the 21st September having being asked to provide a model of care, a management structure and a staffing structure and practice guides which we still haven’t received to date.

“We have no details of the registered manager or registered individual.

The plans of the dwelling house (Image: Bolton Council)

“In the North West currently there is a market shortfall of 15 per cent of registered managers and registered individuals so it is unclear how those roles will be filled and the level of experience that the organisation has in delivering care.

“The application may meet planning approval, but members have a responsibility to consider this application in the context of their role as corporate parents and the duty to safeguard children is paramount.

“Two private children’s homes in Bolton have already been closed in the last six months making vulnerable children even more vulnerable because of the lack of quality of care that is in the system.

“This organisation to my knowledge, to our knowledge, does not have experience of operating children’s care homes with complex needs and if this application is given planning approval today Bolton Council will not place children in the home, but children will be placed from out of the area in the home because there is a national sufficiency gap.

“Children’s homes are required in Bolton, but we need them to be run by people who have significant experience in delivering therapeutic care and who are prepared to work in partnership with the local authority to understand local need and the very high standards of care required in order for us to place our most vulnerable children in provision locally.”

Cllr Elaine Sherrington said the matter of safeguarding children and the planning application for the building itself are two separate matters.

She said: “The actual building won’t be able to be opened as a children’s home until it actually has the right people in there anyway that’s because of the registration so really the two things are completely separate.

“In other words, we could do the planning application today, find there is nothing wrong with this property and then it would be up to whoever does the registration of the people, that would have to be done separately and they wouldn’t be able to open their doors until they got those people in.”

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Ms Brown responded to Cllr Sherrington and said: “For me the duty to safeguard overrides all elements of the decisions because I can’t assure myself at this point in time that the owners and providers have any experience of caring for children because they have not, despite numerous requests, they have not been able to provide that detail for us and that concerns me.”

Cllr Andy Morgan asked Ms Brown about the impact of the closure of the previous care homes on children, Ms Brown said two Bolton children were moved from one home and they have since faced challenging times.

Cllr Sue Priest also raised her concerns regarding ‘inconsistencies in the application’ and in terms of parking as it is extremely busy.

She said: “When you combine the inconsistencies on the application form, the basic issues of planning plus the whole issue of them not engaging with child services and our responsibility as corporate parents, I think we have to dismiss this.”

Multiple councillors at the planning committee said whilst they understand the application meets planning grounds, they also have a duty to safeguard children.

Cllr Sherrington said she approved of the application as it is down to ‘bricks and mortar’ and Cllr Champak Mistry also wanted the proposal to be approved as it met planning guidelines.

But the application was refused.

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