Blakenall children’s home plan to go ahead despite council’s refusal
A government inspector has overruled the decision by Walsall Council to refuse a children’s care home in Blakenall.
The plans involved converting two semi-detatched three-bedroom homes on Dartmouth Avenue into a single facility for up to four children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.
The plans sparked opposition from nearby residents over concerns about existing parking problems and the number of social buildings in the area already.
But councillors on the authority’s planning committee refused the application back in April because they felt the area was ‘too dangerous’ for vulnerable children.
At the meeting, ward councillor for Blakenall Councillor Izzy Hussain said: “In the last two years, we’ve had a young man shot not too far from there, a young girl aged seven killed by an off-road bike driven by a 14-year-old.
“In the last few months, a young man was stabbed to death, and around the corner from here, recently, we had a drive-by shooting, I heard.
“This is just some of the things; there’s a lot more going on. We have a duty to our children and I wouldn’t be comfortable putting them there.”
Following the refusal applicant Assist Development lodged an appeal to try and have it overturned.
Planning inspector Rachel Hall decided to overrule the council and grant permission for the plans to go ahead.
Ms Hall said that while the area has a particularly high crime rate, children would be supported by staff during the day and night by a ‘good level of supervision’.
She said Ofsted would assess the suitability of the site and surroundings to meet the needs of the future occupants.
In response to the neighbours’ concerns about traffic, Ms Hall said the number of vehicle movements to and from the site would ‘unlikely be substantially different’ to that of two family homes.
Councillor Pete Smith, a councillor in Blakenall, said the decision makes a ‘mockery’ of the system.
He said: “We have little confidence in a system that gives power to an unelected, unaccountable official, based in another part of the country, to override the decision of our planning committee who have a great deal of experience.
“This decision makes a mockery of the system and undermines the democratically-arrived-at decision by the planning committee.”
