A children's care home in Bilston has been ordered to cease trading after a planning inspector upheld a council enforcement notice.
Appeal against closure order dismissed
An appeal by TS Healthcare Limited to overturn a Dudley Council enforcement notice has been rejected by the Planning Inspectorate. The council had ordered the company to stop operating a children's care facility from a two-storey semi-detached house on Maslin Drive in Bilston.
The inspectorate found the company had not obtained the required change of use planning permission to run a care home from the residential property. The appeal was formally thrown out, meaning the closure order stands.
Why the home was not a 'household'
During the appeal, TS Healthcare Limited argued the property was providing 'supported living' and not functioning as a care home, therefore not needing planning consent. However, the Planning Inspectorate's investigation concluded otherwise.
The inspector's report stated that carers did not live at the property but provided full-time care on a rota system. This meant the home was not operating as a single household where children and carers live together. Consequently, the building could not be classed as a normal residential dwelling, and a material change of use had taken place.
History of disturbances and police visits
The inspector's report detailed significant issues that had arisen from the property's use. It noted that, at one point, three residents with complex needs requiring 24-hour care lived there.
The report highlighted complaints from neighbours about noise, disturbance, and anti-social behaviour, often occurring late at night. Police were called to the address on multiple occasions, including one incident where emergency services had to attend because an occupier had climbed onto the garage roof.
While acknowledging that a family home can generate noise, the inspector concluded that the levels of disturbance and activity linked to the care home were higher than would be reasonably expected from a domestic household.
The company also attempted to argue that activity at the home was no different to a normal house and that, at the time of preparing the appeal, only one individual was living there. This argument was dismissed in light of the property's established use and the history of complaints.
The decision by the Planning Inspectorate is final, and the children's home must now comply with the council's original enforcement notice to cease operating from the Bilston address.
