Children's home planned for Dudley vicarage of church which held football star's funeral

Plans to convert the former vicarage of a well-known Dudley church into a children’s home will be considered by councillors at a meeting next week.

Planning officer James Stanley is recommending the plans for St Francis’s vicarage in Laurel Road on the Priory estate should be approved.

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St Francis’s Church famously held the funeral of Dudley-born football legend Duncan Edwards following his death in the 1958 Munich air crash.

Mr Stanley said the proposal was for a six-bedroom children’s home to accommodate a maximum of six children aged from eight to 17 years old.

He said the home would be staffed 24 hours a day, with a maximum of nine staff present at any one time.

There would be an office and staff bedroom on the ground floor.

Mr Stanley said the proposals would help meet a need within the borough to provide placements for children with complex needs in smaller, Ofsted-registered children’s homes.

“The proposed change of use to a children’s home would be compatible with its surrounding in an established residential area, and is therefore acceptable in principle,” he said.

He said the house had sufficient ground to accommodate up to nine cars, but for most of the day it was anticipated that only six of these spaces would be occupied.

“The proposed children’s care home is intended to operate in a manner comparable to a family household, providing stable accommodation and support for a small number of children,” said Mr Stanley.

“There is no evidence to indicate that such a use would generate crime in the locality. As such, in the absence of any substantiated harm, a refusal on community safety grounds would not be considered appropriate.”

No objections had been received to the plan, he added.

The plan will be considered by the council’s planning committee at a meeting on Tuesday night.