Three houses could be built on site of controversial Blakenall children’s home
The applicant behind a controversial children’s home in Blakenall has now proposed to build three additional homes on the same site.
Assist Development has submitted plans to build the three-bedroom detached homes at the rear of 41 and 43 Dartmouth Avenue.
Only last month, two existing semi-detached family homes on Dartmouth Avenue were given permission to become a children’s care home for up to four youngsters with emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Walsall Council’s planning committee had originally refused the application to convert the properties because members felt the area was too dangerous for already vulnerable children.
But Assist Development lodged an appeal to the planning inspector and the refusal was overturned.
Now, the same applicant has proposed to build the three detached homes, with access from St Thomas Close, a small cul-de-sac to the rear of Dartmouth Avenue.
Councillor Pete Smith, ward member for Blakenall, said that for many months lorries have been gaining access from St Thomas Close and ‘dumping waste’ on the site of the proposed new homes.
He said the waste is then being ‘burnt on a regular basis’, upsetting nearby residents.
Plans for the proposed new homes state that they will each have two rooms on the first floor and the third in the loft, each with an en-suite toilet and shower.
On the ground floor are a lounge, kitchen/diner and a fourth toilet. Each of the homes have two car parking spaces each.
When the children’s home application was brought before the planning committee in April, Dartmouth Avenue resident Nicola Smith said there was inadequate parking and that approval would be a detriment to highway safety.
A petition against the plans was signed by more than 300 residents who agreed that the area was already too congested.
Now, if approved, residents will have to contend not only with a new children’s care facility, if Ofsted approves it, but also the three new homes.
Ofsted said that during the registration process for a new children’s home it needs to demonstrate that it is in the right place, is safe and meets all relevant legal requirements.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a spokesperson for the regulator said: “Applicants must have considered the needs of the children who would live in the home, including if the location could put them at risk of harm or exploitation due to local criminal activity.”
