The home in Spencer Road, earmarked to become a private children’s care home. Credit: Google
(Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Sebastian Mann)
If approved, the large detached home in Spencer Road would be turned into a facilty for four children aged between eight and 17 years old.
The proposals were submitted to Havering Council on 9th September, and are the latest in a series of planning applications.
According to planning agent Smart Skills, the goal is to provide a home for children with “emotional behavioural difficulties or learning difficulties” and “enable them to lead as normal a life as possible”.
The agent wrote, on behalf of applicant Mohamed Hussain: “The aim is to promote independence, build resilience and encourage social inclusion.
“Carers will provide food, shelter and a safe place for children to grow.”
Four children would live there full-time, with six adult carers working in shifts of 48 hours on and 60 hours off. There will be at least two available at all times, the agent says.
The expectation is that the children would attend a mainstream school. Back at home, they would be involved in cleaning the house, shopping, and preparing meals in order to resemble a “regular family”.
They would be accompanied by a carer outside the home, which the agent says would mirror parent-child relationships and not be a ‘disruption’ within the neighbourhood.
Concerns about how these homes could disrupt residential areas have hung over previous applications.
Retrospective proposals to convert a home in Hornchurch went before the council’s planning committee in August after twelve residents objected.
It was set up to accommodate two disabled children but had led to an increase in traffic and antisocial behaviour, the committee was told.
Ward councillor Barry Mugglestone said: “You can’t simply change a residential property into a care home with high-risk children.”
Similar plans to convert a two-storey home in Dorking Road, Romford, into a children’s home were rejected that month.
The council felt it would “materially change” the area’s character and that the applicant, Christina Addison, had failed to demonstrate it would not lead to an increase in street traffic.
However, plans to turn a home in Station Lane into a facility for up to three children were recently allowed to go ahead.
In the case of Spencer Road, the applicant argues the coming-and-goings would not be “significantly different” from a family’s. There would be no more than one change of staff per day, and there are three off-street parking spaces available.
The applicants have assured the council they would register with Ofsted before taking in children.
Three are currently operating in the borough that are unlicensed by the standards agency, which has raised concerns with councillors. There is no legal minimum standard for unregulated care homes, so their quality can vary.
Ofsted will inspect Spencer Road once a year, to assess how the children are faring, the quality of the care, and how well managed the home is.
A decision will be made on whether the conversion can go ahead by 31st October.
According to financial advisers at Rangewell, the need for children’s care is growing at a rate local authorities cannot meet.
One of the biggest burdens on Havering’s coffers is providing adequate care for its ever-growing young population.
The profits can be “lucrative,” Rangewell says.
An advisor said children’s care homes were a “rising business opportunity for those who want to combine social good with stable profit”.
In the UK, around 80% of children’s homes are privately operated.
