Doncaster Council to decide on application to change residential dwelling to children’s care home

Care providers, Safe Haven, have applied to the City of Doncaster Council planning department for a change of use for the home from a ‘residential’ dwelling to ‘children’s care home’.

The application is being presented to councillors due to a high number of representations objecting to the plans.

According to the report prepared by council officers ahead of the meeting, the existing dwelling is a “large 4-bedroom detached property with off road car parking”, intended to have a maximum of three children living on a permanent basis.

Safe Haven described itself in the application as caring for “children between the ages 8-17 years old” and “place a strong emphasis in providing a nurturing and warm environment, whilst delivering the highest quality care”.

The application doesn’t propose any changes to the outside of the building. The main change internally is to use a downstairs living room as an additional staff bedroom.

It says the site would be registered with Ofsted, the regulator for children’s care facilities.

Any children living at the site would be given 24/7 care and support by staff, who would work two or three days in a row before changing over.

Two full-time staff and two part-time staff would work at the site in shifts, meaning it was unlikely all four would be at the site for extended periods simultaneously.

Some of the objections to the application speculated that anti-social behaviour would increase in the area if the plans were approved. However, South Yorkshire Police’s Architectural Liaison Officer said they would support the plans, subject to Safe Haven entering an agreement with the force.

They said in the council report: “The location of the proposed children’s residential home does not suffer from elevated levels of anti-social behaviour or criminality.

“Planning applications for children’s homes will not be supported by South Yorkshire Police in areas where there are high numbers of anti-social behaviour reported to the Police.

“The concern of the Police is the impact that the homes can have on the lives of neighbours, Police resources and the resident children themselves if the home is in an area where they could become involved with crime.”

The force did request Safe Haven enter into a memorandum of understanding with South Yorkshire Police relating to “children missing from the home”.

Doncaster Council’s Children, Young People and Families department said it had asked Safe Haven to complete its compliance documentation, as part of the usual process, but clarified it does not guarantee children will be placed in their care.

It said this was because they had a “thorough matching process for residential placements based on children’s needs”.

Another objection concern regarding an existing lack of on-street parking in the area was addressed by council Highways officials.

They reported that the property in question has enough off-street parking to accommodate all four members of staff should they all be on site at the same time.

Councillors on the planning committee will discuss the application at their next meeting on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.