A plan for a new children’s home has been slammed for being ‘thrown together’ by a company with “no experience” running a care home. The proposal for the new home, near Ashby, was unanimously rejected by councillors.

Applicants proposed turning a house in a residential area in Woodville into a home for three children. But councillors raised serious concerns over the lack of a robust plan at a South Derbyshire District Council meeting on Tuesday, March 7.

The plan was put forward by the Rose View Care Group Ltd which stated in its application that its staff were experienced in running children’s homes and that the site would be registered with Ofsted. But Councillor Julie Patten claimed the firm had not consulted Derbyshire County Council or the area’s police about it.

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Coun Patten, cabinet member for children’s services and safeguarding said: “I am really concerned about this application. Where is the business case? The company has no experience with running care homes and no experience running children’s homes, which I find really concerning.

“We do need children’s homes, that is a fact, but we need quality children’s homes, not something that has been thrown together which looks like what has been done here. We also need a minimum of one to one staff to children ratio, along with supervision at night.

“I am really worried about it and I’m really worried about these children. The applicant has not consulted with Derbyshire (county council), we don’t know if these are Derbyshire children or being brought into Derbyshire.”

The firm said, if the plan was approved, young people being placed in the home would be carefully matched and said it “will not be accepting children who have a history of criminal activity”, DerbyshireLive reports. It said: “We will register to provide care for children who have been through trauma, abuse and neglect.

“All staff will have a robust training induction and will have extensive experience in children’s homes. Prior to children being admitted into the home professional meetings will take place to ensure we can meet the child’s needs and the location of the home is suitable for the child.”

Councillor Steve Taylor told the meeting the chosen site was not an appropriate location and questioned the applicant’s understanding of the area. “I asked councillors how they would feel if one of these facilities was planned opposite their own houses and I tend to think it would not be particularly well received,” he said.

“The applicant says they will work in close relationship with the police, the fire service and with youth centres, but there aren’t any youth centres. Do they have an understanding of the area they are putting this children’s home into? It is also not clear the level of difficulties these children have.”

Further concerns were raised by Councillor Melanie Bridgen who said there “no information about the child-to-staff ratio, there is no evidence of a business plan and no evidence of dialogue with the police”. Steffan Saunders, the council’s head of planning, summarised that the council’s objection would be based on the concern that, due to the absence of a “robust management plan”, the facility would “result in harmful impacts on the amenity of neighbours”.

The plan said there would be “no more” than five people in the property at any one time, conflicting with the statement given to officers, saying this would include one daytime care – not one-to-one provision – and one overnight carer. It also said the facility would look to address a shortage of children’s care homes in the region.

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