Residents 'fear for safety' as Mansfield Council approves Church Warsop vulnerable children’s home

The six-bedroom property, on Barn Owl Close will host four children between the ages of five and 17 and will be operated by London-based Boardwalk Care Ltd.

The children will be looked after on a 24/7 rota basis, meaning there will be four members of staff at the property at any one time during the day, and two members of staff who stay overnight.

But one concerned resident of the road said people ‘will not feel safe on our street’.

The application to change the house into a children’s home was submitted in October.

But there were 23 official public objections made to the change online, so instead of a decision on it being made by planning staff at the council, the matter was brought before the planning committee on December 15.

Presenting the case to the committee, a planning officer explained that the home, situated on the edge of a private drive off Barn Owl Close, has room for four cars in its driveway and two small cars within a small garage, which is part of the property.

But objections to the home being changed centre particularly around parking issues that could arise from the number of staff cars needing to park at the property, and potential anti-social behaviour and drug issues resulting from the fact that the children staying at the home would be vulnerable.

The officer made clear that a condition of the planning application is that visitors to the property have to register for an appointment slot in advance and can not just turn up, allowing a parking space to be allocated for them if needed, and said that any cars that couldn’t fit on the driveway would likely park on the street, not the private drive, therefore not blocking the drive from other cars or emergency vehicles.

But local resident Frances McLoughlin, speaking at the meeting, said: “The highways design guide says there should be one parking space per three bedrooms and one for each staff member, equating to six spaces.

“But there will be many extra cars parked here during the day – social workers, health care professionals, family, cleaners.

“The garage doors are only seven feet wide, which means it would be difficult for anything other than a very small car to use it, and also there’d be cars parked in front of the garage, which would necessitate a lot of manoeuvring.

“It is not feasible to use the garage – it is totally impractical and potentially dangerous.”

Charles McLoughlin, another local resident, raised concerns over the prospective children’s potential behaviour.

He said: “Very recently, there have been items in the national news about a large number of adopted children being returned to council care, due to the adoptive parents being unable to cope with the behaviour of the children.

“This is a tragic situation but it serves to highlight the extreme difficulties involved in caring for vulnerable children and teenagers.

“I also have a close friend who worked in children’s care homes for three years.

"She said there was considerable noise both day and night from children and from cars coming and going late at night and early in the morning.”

Mr McLoughlin spoke about an application for a children’s home in Mansfield Woodhouse, which was rejected and included an objection from police, who said that a ‘leafy cul-de-sac’ as such, with an alleyway providing access to an open space, was a ‘known crime enabler’.

For Barn Owl Close, police did not object but added an advisory note that said that ‘similar children’s homes in Nottinghamshire have shown increased risk of young people being exploited for county lines drug trafficking and sexual exploitation’.

But Mr McLoughlin said that Barn Owl Close was also a leafy cul-de-sac and added: “The assertion that other residents’ health and wellbeing wouldn’t be affected is totally untrue.

“The Howard League for Penal Reform revealed that children’s homes frequently call the police, sometimes over 200 times in one year.

“All Barn Owl Close residents, especially those with very young children, are extremely concerned about the increased possibility of aforementioned activities in our street.

"We will not feel safe on our street.”

When councillors were invited to speak, Labour councillor Richard Tempest-Mitchell said: “This should be really simple for me, because kids need a nice family-orientated place to live.

“But I find this one difficult simply because of the number of kids.

"Everything I’m reading says three is an optimal number.

"If we vote yes, we are voting for something that is not optimal – I’m not prepared to vote for this.”

The planning officer said that other children’s homes in the local area have been successful with four people.

Supporting the application, Labour councillor John Coxhead said: “Where do you put these places for children to be able to be living in normalised areas?

"To me it’s Warsop, Mansfield – we’re a lovely place. people want to be here.”

Councillors voted through the plans by seven to one, with the sole councillor who was not in favour choosing to abstain from the vote.