Inspectors side with council over ‘comings and goings’ at proposed Oldbury children’s home

A government inspector has joined the council in blocking a move to convert a house into a children’s home. Sandwell Council last year refused permission to convert the house in Barston Road, Oldbury, into a residential home for up to three children.

Heartled Children’s Residential Care, the company that wants to run the home, appealed to the government’s planning inspectors in a bid to overturn the decision, but was turned down a second time. Planning inspectors said the increased “comings and goings” from the proposed children’s home would be too noisy and disruptive to neighbours.

The council has already approved a side extension and loft conversion at the Barston Road house, but then rejected the move to turn it into a children’s home. Nine neighbors objected to the plans when they were brought forward in early 2023 – with residents concerned about a potential increase in anti-social behavior as well as noise and parking issues.

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The planning inspector sided with the council and said the “frequent gatherings” of children, staff, social workers and other visitors would cause too much disruption to existing neighbours. The planning inspector said: “I note that the council is concerned about the use of three storeys, which could lead to noise issues and nuisance for neighboring occupiers.

“However, the dense residential character of the wider area means that a house occupied by a large family would not be unusual, especially in a large five-bedroom house. There is therefore no evidence to suggest that there would be an increase in noise and disturbance from the property itself above that of a typical large family home.

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“Despite my findings regarding the noise and disturbance within the property itself, I conclude that the proposed development would be detrimental to the living conditions of neighboring occupiers in terms of noise and disturbance caused by frequent comings and goings.” The council rejected the application for the same reason – saying the extra people in the house would be “highly visible” to neighbours.

“While there would be no obvious physical features to distinguish the property from a normal family home, there would be other notable differences in its use,” a report outlining the council’s refusal said. “These differences included changing staff, early mornings and late evenings, weekdays and weekends. This would be highly visible to neighboring occupiers, marking the property as something other than a residential home. It may also result in a number of vehicles being parked at the property at any one time, including caretakers, a manager and other professionals visiting the site.

“The concerns are compounded by the activity being spread over three floors and the noise and disturbance impact on the next door neighbour.”