Outspoken residents criticised and shouted at Chesterfield planners after they gave the green light for a semi-detached house to be converted into a children’s care home despite concerns for traffic safety.
Chesterfield Borough Council’s planning committee granted planning permission for Spring Care for You Ltd’s planning application to change a two-storey residential property on Wentworth Avenue, at Walton, in Chesterfield, into a children’s care home for three youngsters with alterations and the widening of the driveway.
The committee considered at least 50 comments from concerned residents who raised fears the scheme will lead to increased traffic, parking issues and road safety problems around the property which they say already faces a blind bend.
One resident, Mr Hatton, who told the meeting that parking on the street is already an ‘absolute nightmare’, said: “We have over 50 objections with lots of detail. It is not safe to add more traffic to that street.”
He argued Derbyshire County Council’s highways authority has not objected to the scheme because they do not have all the accurate information about the residents’ traffic concerns and he believes the site is not an appropriate location for a children’s home.
Objecting residents complained that Wentworth Road is narrow and the site is next to a blind bend, that the driveway will require vehicles to unsafely reverse in or out of the property, and that parked vehicles will obstruct visibility and reduce the width of the road making congestion and passing opportunities worse.
They also argued that with staff coming and going from the property there will be an increase in vehicle movements.
However, after the planning application had been previously deferred for further consultation with the county council highways authority it has since stated that based on the National Planning Policy Framework it cannot refuse the application because it is not deemed to pose an unacceptable impact on highway safety or residual cumulative impacts on the road network.
Council planning officer Helen Frith told the meeting the scheme includes four proposed parking spaces, a garage conversion into an office and staff living and sleeping space, and three bedrooms for three children with no extensions.
But protester Christopher Everett argued Derbyshire Constabulary and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service and the county council’s social services have not been consulted on the application.
However, Ms Frith explained that neither the fire service or police are necessary statutory consultees for this particular application and the meeting heard that social services will only be engaged at a later stage after the planning process when the scheme undergoes checks to be finally authorised to become a children’s home.
The applicant’s agent James Stannard, of JS Planning Services, said Spring Care for You is an experienced care home provider and the scheme will provide high quality social care for children in a family setting.
Dr Mark Blagden, of Spring Care for You, said: “We want to provide high quality care. We want to get it right and we do not want to make slip ups along the way because it would affect our ability to run the business.”
He explained the property has been selected to provide care for youngsters in as normal a residential setting as possible and at any one time there would only be four staff members and that any movement of staff during changing shifts would be staggered so they do not all leave and return at the same time causing any parking or traffic issues.
The council’s report into the application stated there are no statutory objections which would restrict the approval of the development and the scheme is not considered to have a detrimental impact upon the amenities of residents to an extent that a refusal of planning permission could be warranted.
Cllr Martin Stone said: “In terms of providing care for children who have had a difficult life, the model of doing it in our communities is something to be supported.”
With only one abstention, the committee voted to grant planning permission for the applicant which was followed by outbursts from the public gallery including an insult aimed at the committee and a question over whether the councillors would like to live next door to such a scheme.
