Derbyshire council owes children's home operator £3,000 after appeal loss

Morley Walk, Church Gresley
-Credit:Google


A Derbyshire council has to pay a children’s home operator £3,000 after losing a planning appeal over a rejected village facility. South Derbyshire District Council will have to pay the full appeal costs of Lundi Education and Care after a ruling from Government planning inspector U P Han over a children’s home in Morley Walk, Church Gresley.

The appeal related to plans the council rejected in May 2024 over a three-storey four-bed semi-detached house being turned into a children’s home for one child aged between six and 17. That rejection was against the recommendation of district council planners.

This decision comes as the council looks for ways to be able to legally restrict children’s homes by introducing policies such as the size of house required or number of parking spaces needed. It says it has had 13 planning applications to turn houses into children’s homes and all have been approved.

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Of the three applications that were refused by councillors all were overturned at appeal by planning inspectors. Council officials say that this is because there are effectively no grounds for councillors to be able to justify refusal of the children’s homes without objections from expert highways or environmental health.

They stress that the potential occupants of the facility cannot form any part of the consideration of the respective properties. During the May 2024 planning meeting for the Morley Walk facility, residents and councillors had claimed the facility had already been operating for as long as three years without permission.

Cllr Alan Haynes, who is a district and county councillor said he had checked with Derbyshire County Council and the children’s home was not in the authority’s list of providers and was not providing spaces for Derbyshire children. Councillors and residents raised existing issues with noise and disturbance from the current occupants.

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In the Morley Walk appeal, the inspector detailed that the operator says the facility was used from June to November 2020 for a 16-17 year old child. The inspector said that they were content that the proposed change of use of the facility had not already taken place.

In a decision notice, the inspector wrote: “As a four-bedroom dwelling house, the appeal property could accommodate a family of four or more people. This would generate levels of noise and disturbance associated with activity undertaken by different generations of a family.

“For example, parents going to and from work at different times of the day and separate activities undertaken by the children, especially if the children were young adults. A typical family home would also generate activity associated with visitors and deliveries as part of its normal usage.

“Therefore, the activity associated with the proposal would not be significantly greater than if it were used as a family home. Consequently, the proposal would not result in a significantly more intensive use of the property than the existing use.

“The proposal would not result in a significant increase in traffic movements compared to its existing use as a large family house. It has not been demonstrated that the proposal would have an undue detrimental impact on highway safety.

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“Since the future occupants of the proposal are unknown, it would be conjecture and unreasonable to withhold planning permission on the basis of preconceptions about their propensity to commit crime. Submissions linked solely to the characteristics of future occupiers would not justify a refusal of permission.”

The inspector found that the reasons for refusal were unsupported by any evidence and any objection from key experts, and that the four-year delay for a decision was also not acceptable. They wrote: “I am of the view that unreasonable behaviour has been demonstrated on the part of the council and has resulted in the applicant’s unnecessary expense in contesting the appeal. A full award of costs is therefore warranted.”

A council spokesperson said: “The application (made by Lundi Education and Care) was taken to our planning committee on Tuesday May 28, 2024. The recommendation was to approve this application, however committee members did not approve the recommendation due to concerns from several neighbours relating to neighbour amenity and highway safety. The refusal was subsequently appealed.”

They said that the costs requested by the applicant are £3,000.

At a planning meeting this week the council encouraged a separate children’s home operator, Roots Care Group, to take the authority to appeal for limiting its approval for a facility in Coton Park, Linton, to a two-year temporary period. The council had approved the plans in August last year with a two-year permission, but the owners shortly applied to remove that condition, which was rejected this week.

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