Residents and councillors had raised concerns about care firm Eliana Cares’ plan to convert a house in Cavendish Avenue, Harrow, to house up to four children with “high level emotional, behavioural, and development needs”.
Harrow Council’s planning committee approved the application last week, saying it “has to have places for people to stay” and there were no planning reasons to refuse it.
Cllr Ghazanfar Ali, who voted against the plan, said: “I’ve got the same kind of care home in my ward and we receive regular complaints that, even during the night, the children with mental issues are vivacious, are banging on the walls, and sometimes open the windows and shout at the people walking. It’s upset a lot of residents.”
Cllr Nitin Parekh said he had a problem with a similar home in his ward for adults, with people standing outside who could be a danger to themselves or residents.
He added: “Is it not our concern to make sure that doesn’t happen, because by nature these people don’t know what they’re doing if they’ve got mental issues.”
The home will always have two carers on site from a rotation of 12.
The committee also cited a statement made by Secure By Design – a police security initiative to improve the security of buildings – which suggested the location “is not ideal” due to crime and antisocial behaviour rates in the area and cited security concerns over the main entry door and back door, one bedroom and the possibility of children barricading themselves into rooms due to doors opening inwards.
However, Secure By Design concluded the home is “unlikely to result in any significant or detrimental harm” to either the children in care, or people living nearby.
Planning committee chair Cllr Marilyn Ashton agreed with committee members’ points but said they are not planning issues and it would be up to Ofsted to make sure the premises are suitable.
Cllr Ashton said: “It makes it very difficult for us because common sense-wise, one would think this is a terrible idea really – albeit we have to have places for people to stay.”
Councillors’ comments were criticised by Katharine Sacks-Jones, CEO of Become, a national charity for children in care and young care leavers.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “With 84,000 children in care and a desperate shortage of places where they can live, it’s saddening that such strong objections still exist to a children’s home opening.”
She added: “More than half of children in care in Harrow are sent to live out of area, far from the people and places that matter to them, such as friends, family, school and siblings. As their corporate parents, we would expect councillors to act in the best interests of these often vulnerable children and recognise the importance of making sure homes are available in their area, where children need them.”
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Cllr Parekh apologised for some of the language used and said that it “wasn’t intended to cause offence”. He emphasised that his concerns are around care homes where residents can often be left unsupervised and he wanted to highlight that in these cases those unsupervised people in care could pose a danger to themselves and the wider public.
Cllr Ali was approached for comment.
