Parkinson's-hit dad pleads with council to let children care for him

A Parkinson's disease-hit dad has pleaded with councillors to allow him to build three properties - so his son and daughter can care for him. Mark Bullock has lived in Cheadle all his life, has diabetes and a degenerative eye condition as well as Parkinson's disease, and a wife who cannot drive.

He has applied to build the three bungalows in the Cheadle greenbelt - on land his family has owned for 90 years. But Staffordshire Moorlands District Council planning committee has rejected the Park Lane application.

Mr Bullock told councillors: “I was born in Cheadle and lived in the area all my life. The land in question has been in my family for over 90 years.

READ: Car cruising could be banned in Newcastle as council flooded with 'boy racer' complaints - Newcastle Borough Council is looking at introducing a public space protection order banning car cruising

READ: The 21 candidates in the running to become Stoke-on-Trent's newest MPs - All three seats in the Potteries were won by the Conservatives in 2019

“My unsuccessful quest to find a suitable bungalow in the centre of Cheadle started 12 months ago when I was diagnosed with the onset of Parkinson's disease and being a diabetic with a degenerative eye condition, which is being checked on a four-monthly basis. I now know there’s a need. These conditions will eventually lose my independence.

“I haven’t got anyone else, my wife does not drive, so I’ll lose that ability of getting about. Thus if I could live on Park Lane I would be on a reasonably level ground and only 300 metres from Cheadle High Street and all the amenities and support being in the centre of Cheadle.

“So I could carry on with a reasonable sense of independence initially. I am acutely aware however my conditions will need round-the-clock care moving forward hence the need for two additional properties that will be occupied by my son and daughter and their families.

“This will allow a strong family group to stay together resulting in both myself and wife having the support and assistance we will need in old age without putting additional burden on the care system.”

Council planners had already recommended rejecting the application. It had attracted four objections and highways concerns.

Councillor Ian Plant said: “I think along with everybody else we have full sympathy for the applicant and you can see what predicament we’re in being in the greenbelt as well. It’s always been publicised by Cheadle Town Council that we’ve always got a shortage of bungalows in Cheadle."

Councillor Paul Roberts added: “I feel sorry for the gentleman. But it is not one property it’s three properties and that makes the difference. If it had been one property for an infill I might have been looking at it a lot differently but when it’s three it's a completely different situation because it then becomes three properties for somebody else because something could happen and the three properties could go out of the family situation.”

Get daily headlines and breaking news emailed to you - it’s FREE