Dudley children’s home closure order upheld by inspectorate
An application to overturn a Dudley Council notice ordering a children’s home to cease operating has been rejected.
The two-story semi detached house in Maslin Drive, Bilston, was being used as a care facility by TS Healthcare Limited without an appropriate change of use planning application approval.
The company was served with an enforcement notice by the council and appealed against the order to the Planning Inspectorate.
The company argued the house was not operating as a care home but providing supported living and did not require change of use approval.
However the Inspectorate concluded carers did not live at the property but provided full-time care on a rota basis which meant the home was not functioning as a household where the children and carers live together.
As the building was not functioning as a household, it could not be classed as a residential dwelling and a material change of use had occurred.
The company also appealed on the grounds that activity at the care home was no different to a normal residential house and, when the appeal was prepared, only one individual living at the property.
A report accompanying the decision said previously there had been three residents who had complex needs requiring 24-hour care.
The report continued: “The complaints and objections from third parties attest to noise and disturbance from residents of the property and from visitors, including staff, and there have been visits from the police, including one occasion when the emergency services had to attend the site because an occupier had climbed onto the garage roof.
“Noise, disturbance and anti-social behaviour seem on occasion to have occurred late at night when neighbouring residents can reasonably expect peace and quiet.”
The Inspectorate acknowledged a family home could generate noise but levels of disturbance and activity linked to the house were higher than would be expected from a domestic household.
