Blackpool's looked after children 'deserve to live in pleasant areas' meeting is told as homes get go ahead

The property on Freemantle Avenue where planning permission has been granted to convert it to a children's home

A fourth application was deferred after it emerged the site could contravene council policy because it was too close to an existing facility.

It came as a meeting of Blackpool’s planning committee was told to expect further applications to convert former family homes in the “nicer areas” of the town for occupation by children living in care.

Applications to use properties in Freemantle Avenue, Squires Gate, and Lancaster Road, Marton, for two children were approved along with an application to use a house on Hodder Avenue for one teenager on a temporary basis for one year.

A bid to use a bungalow on Norbreck Road for two children was deferred as the committee heard there was already a children’s home on Norbreck Road, contrary to policy which says homes must be more than 400 metres apart.

A petition signed by 114 people had been submitted in opposition to the Freemantle Avenue scheme, while 71 people had objected to the Norbreck Road application.

Norbreck ward councillor Maxine Callow said residents already suffered from anti-social behaviour from the existing facility.

She said: “There have been horrendous problems over the years from the young people there – drinking, smoking, damage to the property and the police having to be called out.”

But the meeting, held on Zoom, said a new policy agreed by the council had tightened controls.

If operators failed to manage their properties properly, the council could ensure they were not commissioned to look after youngsters in future.

Head of development control Susan Parker said children in care deserved “to live in pleasant areas and stable and secure environments.”

She said: “Our approach of directing applications to good sized properties away from the inner areas, will inevitably push children’s care homes to emerge in what we might call the nicer areas of town.”

She added this was likely to increase the number of objections received from residents who are “understandably concerned about the impact of the new use.”

However there was “no reason to suppose children’s residential care homes are inherently unacceptable” or a “source of anti-social behaviour”, and controlling them “came down to appropriate management.”