Two more Mansfield area houses identified as suitable for children's care homes

In recent months, several houses have been identified as potential children’s homes, reflecting the chronic shortage of suitable locations within Nottinghamshire for youngsters unable to live with their families.

Only last week, the Chad reported on a property at Somersall Street that was the subject of a planning application submitted to Mansfield District Council.

Now two more change-of-use applications have been lodged – one for a five-bedroom, detached house at 27A Meden Avenue in Warsop and one for a three-bedroom, semi-detached house at 6 Big Barn Lane in Mansfield.

The man behind the Warsop project is Fahad Kalathingal, 43-year-old director of Essex-based real-estate company, GVS Properties Fambridge Ltd.

It is unclear who would run the home, but Mr Kalathingal’s agent, Rose Consulting, of Halifax, has compiled a lengthy planning statement to support the application.

"It would be a small, specialist care home for up to three children, who would have been diagnosed with learning disabilities and/or emotional and/or behavioural difficulties,” says the statement.

"They would be looked after by a team of carers, and a manager and deputy, working on a rota basis, including overnight.

"The home would aim to provide a smooth transition for children, supporting them to build their confidence, regulate their behaviour and emotions, help them to develop life-skills and prepare them for life when they leave to fend for themselves.

“This type of support has been found to be most effective in helping these children to have normal lives and not experience problems in later life.

"The home would seek to replicate as closely as possible a normal family environment, which government policy is promoting.

"This is to help children who, often through no fault of their own, have not had good parenting in their early years or who have had adverse childhood experiences. These are not children with special or additional needs.”

Rose stresses that the home would have to “meet the approval of” the education watchdog Ofsted, while social services would visit every four to six weeks.

The youngsters, who would be “medium to long-term placements to minimise disruption to residents”, would “engage in various daily activities, plus attend a mainstream or special school or engage in a bespoke individual education plan”.

The Big Barn Lane application has been submitted by the Birmingham-based Scarlet Care Ltd, complete with a planning statement compiled by Garnet Business Solutions Ltd, also of Birmingham.

The small home would be for up to two children, aged between seven and 17, and would “operate as a stable family-style household, providing trauma-informed and person-centred care in a domestic environment”.

The application explains: “The children would live at the property as their main home and would follow ordinary daily routines.

"They would be supervised in accordance with their individual care plans, with any independent time planned, risk-assessed and reviewed.

"The home would be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Staff would work on a rota basis, including overnight, and would not be permanent residents.

"Visitors would be limited and managed. The property would continue to operate and appear as a domestic residential home.”

Garnet’s statement stresses that the home would “NOT operate as a hostel, secure institution, halfway house, emergency lodging facility, day centre or clinic”. Instead, it would be “a private home for the children who live there”.

The council’s planning officers are currently considering both projects. Their deadline dates for a decision or recommendation are Friday, September 25 for Meden Avenue and Wednesday, September 23 for Big Barn Lane. Interested residents or neighbours can post their comments on the council’s website.

THE details of many planning applications can be found in public notices advertised by local and regional newspapers. To catch up on all the latest public notices, go to https://publicnoticeportal.uk/