Oldham children's care home approved, despite objections

An application was submitted in January this year to change the use of a current five-bedroom home on Glen Road into a children's home.

The plans propose three children will live at the home with single bedrooms and will benefit from shared living facilities including a kitchen, living room, dining room and games room.

There will also be sleep-in carer accommodation as the proposal stipulates two members of staff will be at the home during morning, teatime and evening periods on a rota basis in order to provide 24/7 care for the children.

Staff will be comprised of a general manager, a deputy manager and general caring staff, though not all will be present on the site at the same time.

The applicant said the home will provide "high-quality" care for children and young people who cannot live with their own families.

The youngsters will receive bespoke support and intervention to enable them to "feel safe and achieve stability in their lives" and rehabilitate them into a family setting, whether with their own families or foster families.

The provider will work in partnership with Oldham Council to establish a suitable family environment - or a 'home away from home' for the children in need for a minimum of six months but typically no longer than 12.

However, two neighbours objected to the plans with reasons ranging from noise disturbance, privacy and safety concerns and "inappropriate behaviour".

A grandfather wrote he feared his home would be affected by noise and disturbance from the care home and felt the possible "behavioural issues" of the children could pose a "threat" to residents.

He said he looks after his own grandchildren, aged under five, and expressed concern that they would not be safe playing in the garden.

"This has always been one of the quietest residential streets of the area and we wish it to remain like this", he added.

Another objector who lives on adjacent Clarksfield Road said they were "very unhappy with the plan", finding the change of use of the property "totally out of keeping with the area and neighbour's privacy".

The man felt strongly that children in the area would be unable to play for "fear of being exposed to young people with challenging behaviours".

He also said residents "feel very intimidated" by the current activity at the park opposite the home which, he claims, is "always full of groups of teenagers smoking drugs and causing noise issues on a regular with rubbish issues already out of control".

Referring to a semi-independent home that already exists on Lees Road, he said the close proximity of another care home "will cause more issues in the local community" when it comes to noise and parking.

He is also worried about crime and listed child sexual assault, arson, verbal and physical abuse, property damages and the potential for young people to go missing in his objection, claiming such issues would cause disruption to the community.

The objector added that he felt the back garden of the care home is too small for the youngsters to play in.

But the applicant stated there will be "little actual difference" between the current property to the care home and, due to the small number of occupiers and low staffing arrangements, "the home is not likely to generate any more noise or disturbance" than the current five-bed home.

On the issue of the small garden, the applicant said the existing occupiers could have more than three children living in the home.

Besides, the public park opposite the building will provide an additional play area, the applicant added.

While the plans did not outline any provision for on-site parking, given the small scale of the home, the local authority agreed that the proposed site would not generate an increase of traffic.

Oldham Council further agreed that the proposal would not generate any significant nuisance or noise level since adults would be on the site at all times.

The plans were subsequently approved on Thursday (March 2).