Swindon bungalow to be converted into children's home
Two children will be housed in the new home
A family home can be converted into a care home despite the objections of a number of neighbours.
Specialist company Collaborative Care Services has been given permission to change the use of a bungalow in The Broadway into a home for children.
The company told planners it would use the three-bedroom bungalow as a home for two children between the ages of eight and 18.
Its application said: “The children will be carefully selected in conjunction with the local authority’s relevant specialists. The staffing will be made up of two members of staff regularly working and or sleeping at the property.
“Up to three staff could be present during the day, with only up to two remaining present overnight.”
The plan said the adult staff would not be resident but work on a system of two 12-hour shifts, with the change over at 8am and 8pm.
It added: “There will be no huge staff change over on site as a result. The allotted site parking spaces will be adequate for the running of the home.”
It said: “The only visitors that would be allowed on the premises will be the specialists such as social workers. Family members or friends of the children in care will not be allowed at the premises but will only be able to make contact away from the home in a planned and supervised way as per the children’s care plan.”
But several neighbours in the area wrote to object to the plan, with most citing issues with an existing care home in the street.
One said: “The care facility on the corner of Windrush and Broadway has proven to cause many problems for the neighbours – noise, anti-social behaviour and car congestion, which has resulted in “the police being called out.
The bungalow now appears to be in a poor state of repair, in a very short period of time. Further care homes in this area will only increase the stress and concern for elderly residents.”
Another neighbour wrote: “We do not have a complaint about the people being cared for in these properties but we do have a complaint about the carers and their lack of respect for the local area. Parking multiple cars on the pavement when there is adequate parking on the drives thus blocking the public walkway. Parking opposite people’s driveways preventing them from access and egress to their own home.”
Despite the objections planners gave consent saying the number of people in the house would be no different from the number if it continued as a home.