Furious neighbours fighting plans for children’s home on residential …
Residents are fighting plans for a children's home on their street. Neighbours attended a heated Birches Head Residents' Association meeting to highlight their concerns over the plan to turn a Fairhaven Grove bungalow in Staffordshire[1] into a children's home.
It comes as families are already fed up of houses of multiple occupation (HMO)[2] and AirBnBs popping up in Birches Head. And now residents have until May 24 to object to the proposal.
Vesta Children's Services wants the property to 'care for one child 24 hours per day'. The child would be supported by two carers at all times, with staff working shifts, StokeonTrentLive reports.[3]
The company states: "The home would be expected to provide a family atmosphere." However, locals are concerned that this would result in carers parking on the narrow street. New ward councillor Adrian Knapper has already objected to the planning application. There are concerns that a commercial business would be operating on a residential street. Local resident Mr Knapper has accused the company of keeping residents in the dark. He says that the plans were only discovered after residents read about them on our sister site StokeonTrentLive. He said: "The company bought the house and then didn't have the decency to knock on doors and tell people what they were planning to do. People only found out on StokeonTrentLive. "They should have talked to the neighbours before they started the planning process. Residents don't want any more HMOs or AirBnBs because there is becoming a glut of them in the Birches Head area. "They want to live in a residential area with residential families - with amenities to meet their needs. They don’t want every other house to be a HMO or an institution looking after somebody. "They want to live in a good neighbourhood with a good community. It's about building that for the people of Birches Head." Stoke-on-Trent City Council is expected to rule on the planning application within weeks.
References