A children’s home has been approved for a Teesside village despite residents’ worries over spooked horses, noise and road safety.
Agincare Children’s Services asked for planning permission to change a semi-detached, four-bedroomed home on Stanghow Road, Lingdale into a residential home for up to three children.
It would accommodate two staff in daytime, up to three during evenings, weekends and school holidays, with a night worker in three shift periods.
Planning officers on Redcar and Cleveland Council recommended approval of the plan. Toni Carr, the applicant’s operations director, told the decision-making regulatory committee on Thursday (October 1) it would be akin to a nuclear family near schools, healthcare, public transport, leisure and community facilities, offering stability for “children who cannot live with their parent for any amount of reasons”.
She said: “It’s a beautiful family home in a beautiful location, which is why it was chosen… Children who are looked after deserve to be looked after in a beautiful family home.
“They might never experience that again. That might give them the aspiration to go out and change their own lives.
“There is a local need. Redcar and Cleveland local authority has approximately 400 children who are looked after, quite a number of children out of area. This will help meet that need.”
She said it would be professionally managed and staffed 24 hours a day by trained, qualified and experienced professionals with robust safeguarding arrangements, behaviour management and risk management procedures, fire risk and health and safety assessments and a management plan which would be followed and reviewed.
“We will work with the neighbours and community to have a really positive relationship,” she added.
“We want to be good neighbours.”
The council received 12 letters of objection raising issues from suitability, increased traffic, visibility, access, parking and road safety to privacy, noise, disturbance, activity, anti-social behaviour and “we just don’t want this on our row”.
Residents spoke at the regulatory committee meeting. They said they did not object to children’s residential care, but asked whether this property and its access arrangements were suitable, how it would operate and what effect it would have on neighbours.
They questioned whether the home would be comparable to an ordinary family home, citing Cleveland Police’s response that such a home could generate more demands including support and social workers, healthcare professionals, council representatives, safeguarding interventions and missing children.
They drew attention to three homes, including the proposed children’s home, sharing a confined private access used daily to move horses between stables and fields, and urged councillors to visit the site.
One objector said: “One shout, one bang, my horse could be walking down that drive, it could be spooked, it could run straight down that drive on to that main road. It could cause fatal accidents.”
Another raised fire risk and noise: “For me, for three children to be living in this property, the noise is a grave concern… I have total sympathy for these children, but there is a big concern with the equestrian side. Horses are a danger, not just to children but to adults.”
Lockwood ward councillor Steve Kay said he was completely opposed to the “unsuitable” change on a “very busy and dangerous” road, saying a neighbour would have her “peaceful life ruined by the noise of voices and the constant comings and goings”.
He added: “There is the danger of injury, or worse, because it is a route for horses and their riders.”
The council’s head of development services Claire Griffiths said: “From a pure planning point of view, it’s no bigger than a family home. It’s not considered to be any different.”
Debating the plan, Cllr Tim Gray said: “I would ask, where would you want those children putting, if not in a nice house with a nice garden and a nice setting? I’m going to go straight for it and say we should accept this proposal.”
Cllr Marian Fairley said she supported the application and had heard nothing to detract from it.
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Cllr Paul McInnes said: “I can’t vote for these pop-up children’s homes. I think there’s a massive need for children’s homes. I think councillors should be looking a little bit more to the future.”
Referring to injuries from horses, she said: “I can’t vote for it on a health and safety risk. I just hope no children get injured.”
Cllr Philip Thompson asked for a site visit to clarify risks, but this proposal was defeated. Councillors voted 6-3 to approve the plan with conditions.