New Weymouth Children's Centre hits roadblock
Construction work on a new Children's Centre in Weymouth won't now be finished until May
Delays have hit the new children’s centre under construction in Dorchester Road, Weymouth.
The centre is now expected to be completed by the end of May, rather than this December as planned.
A brief statement by Dorset Council said “We are expecting the handover of the buildings to be in May, subject to no further Covid restrictions coming into play and the project not being hampered further with delays due to supply issues in the construction sector. Nevertheless, work is progressing well on the site and we continue to closely monitor deadlines and deliveries.
“In the meantime, new team members are being recruited to join The Harbour and we are planning for the Ofsted inspection in the new year.”
Many public and private projects across the country have been hit by a shortage of construction materials and in some cases, also a of skilled workers, both attributed to Brexit and the pandemic. In Bournemouth one recent housing project has been reduced from 13 to 11 homes because of the supply problems.
The delays to the Dorchester Road project come as new figures show that the number of Dorset children and young people in care has been declining – but still remains higher than similar councils.
The council’s corporate parenting board has been told that the number of children being legally looked after by the authority now stands at 441. A year ago when the Weymouth home was agreed it stood at 480.
The new facility, which includes five residential places, mainly for teenagers, is being built by Spetisbury Construction on the former Weymouth Registry Office site. The framework of a new building has been put in place in recent weeks, following the demolition of the previous wing to the right of the main building.
The former registry building, to the south of the site, will be converted to office space, meeting rooms and two flatlets, designed for emergency and short-term accommodation.
Councillors have been told that the Dorset figure for children in care is normally around 65 to 70 per 10,000 population, which had been improving since January and is now lower than the national average although higher than comparable councils.
More than half of the children in the care of Dorset Council have been in that position for two years or more and over 40 per cent of those in care are living more than 20 miles away from their home.
The majority of Dorset children in care come from the Weymouth and Portland area where life chances for youngsters are also lower than in other parts of the county.
The corporate parents board was told that despite the challenges there had been an increase in the number of children and young people in care being found a permanent home, going up by 9 per cent between April and November.
One of the additional difficulty in keeping Dorset children close to home has been recruiting local foster carers, a process which has slowed since the start of Covid.
The council’s corporate parenting board heard that there also remained problems in getting initial health assessments for a small number of children – which then leads in delays to agreeing a care plan for their future.
Safeguarding lead councillor Andrew Kerby called for an investigation into the ongoing problem with medical assessments and has also asked for information on dental services for children and young people in care.
The majority of children in the care of the council are in foster care, some being fostered by family or friends.