Sandwell Council has been ordered to pay after it “unnecessarily” locked down the children’s home

A council will have to pay costs to a care provider after government inspectors overturned their decision to block the building of a new children’s home in West Bromwich. Government planning inspectors have ruled that Sandwell Council must pay £3,750 to Bright Life Living after last year they wrongly rejected a bid to turn flats in Temple Meadows Road, West Bromwich.

The council rejected a bid to convert the building into a residential care home for up to three children, saying it would lead to more noise and disturbance for neighbours. However, the government inspector dismissed the claims, saying there was no evidence the children’s home was leading to an increase in anti-social behaviour. The inspector also said there was enough space on Temple Meadows Road to accommodate the potential extra cars.

The inspector also said Sandwell Council had acted “unreasonably” and unnecessarily delayed a decision by relying on “vague, blanket claims” and had not provided sufficient evidence to support its claims.

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“While the fear of anti-social behavior is a material consideration, there must be a reasonable evidentiary basis for that fear,” the inspector said in a report outlining the decision. “There is no compelling evidence before me to suggest that the proposal would give rise to anti-social behaviour.

“While I recognize that at other times of the day parking demand could be higher, at the time of my mid-morning site visit I observed limited parking stress along Temple Meadows Road. Even if an additional vehicle associated with the development is required to park on the road, given the likely scale and frequency, I am satisfied that there would be sufficient capacity to park along Temple Meadows Road without adversely affecting highway safety. “

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The council said it was concerned about the “increased likelihood of noise incidents due to the emotional and behavioral needs of children in care” and also that “the quality of care will not be of a high enough standard to ensure that the Care children would not result in noise disturbances for neighboring residents.”

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Sandwell Council said it was considering granting “temporary” planning permission for two years to give the care provider a chance to demonstrate it can run a home in the residential West Bromwich street without problems. Bright Life Living said it had “invested significantly” in the new children’s home and had been running homes across the region successfully – and without problems – for the past few years.

Sandwell Council’s planning committee has approved a number of extensions to the house in 2021 to make way for two new flats. Seven objections were raised by neighbors which led to a decision being made by councillors. Despite neighbors claiming the work would lead to a loss of privacy, set an “undesirable” precedent and lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour, councilors approved the work.

A number of extensions were approved in 2018 – and building work had started – before another application was submitted in 2020 to create four one-bed flats. This application was eventually abandoned following discussions with the council. An application to turn the home into a children’s home was submitted last year but was turned down by council officers.