Multiple occupancy use care home will ‘drag the

ANGRY residents fear plans to convert a former care home into a 29-bed ‘house of multiple occupation’ complex will drag the area down and cause traffic chaos.

Cartref residential home on Derby Road in Farnworth, Widnes, shut in 2018 after a damning Care Quality Commission inspection branded it “inadequate”.

Southport-based Crosshill Property Partners now wants to convert the building into three houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) with a total of 29 bedrooms – six of those to be selfcontained flats.

Most tenants will have access to shared living rooms, kitchen, bathrooms and shower.

A residents’ meeting at Widnes Cricket Club had a tense start as Farnworth Labour councillor Angela McInerney told a group of directors from Crosshill Property Partners to leave because the event was intended for locals.

After the directors’ departure, residents expressed fears the proposals would add to congestion in the area.

One resident – a pub landlord – said: “The other problem is traffic congestion and parking.

“Farnworth as we know is completely congested, especially of a weekend.

“There’s a lot of businesses - there’s shops, cafes, bookies, and I’ve had problems for 19 years trying to keep my car park for customers and have had to employ a private company to police the car park.

“I have 24 parking spaces and I still have problems.

“If you’re going to put 29 in residents with all that entails, people coming in, people going out – the car park on Factory Lane is basically full, there’s been developments there and sheltered housing.

“It’s completely congested as far as traffic and parking go - there’s got to be some safety issues.”

Concerns were also raised by some members of the audience over who would move in if the landlords “struggle to fill it”, whether tenants would be vetted for criminal records, and that it would only take “one bad egg” in the building for any professionals to leave.

One woman in the audience said the phrasing of the planning statement - that the development would “have measures to address crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour” suggested the owners were anticipating both of these things.

They cast doubt on whether the rooms would be popular with “professionals” as they said the company had predicted, with one person speculating that “drug addicts” might move in, as they noted the building’s proximity to schools.

One Farnworth resident said they paid higher band rates of council tax and expected a quality of urban environment to match.

She said: “Most of us are paying over £2,500 to live in a good, safe environment.

“We’ve lived here over 35 years and I’ve chosen this area so our children can grow up safe and be with likeminded people.”

Drainage was also raised as a problem and another person asked if the public could find out more about past projects undertaken by Crosshill.

One resident said the development could be “horrendous”.

Cllr McInerney, who led the event, gave advisory answers over the planning process, how to make representations, and limitations on what types of objection are considered valid under the “change of use” legislation, which limits objections to a handful of potential issues: namely flood risk, noise, highways and land contamination.

She added that Farnworth councillors have been asked to visit another

Crosshill HMO in St Helens to gain more insight into the potential end product.

Speaking after the meeting, a spokesman for Crosshill’s directors tried to issue assurances over residents’ concerns.

On traffic, he said that the previous use as a care home would have generated traffic throughout the day due to visits and staff journeys, adding that only 30% of HMO tenants use a car on average, meaning only nine or 10 were expected to need to use the 13 spaces present.

He said: “Everyone is saying the property is out of character. It’s a 25-bed care home and used to house 25 elderly people.

“There used to be 12-13 staff plus any visitors – there’s already a lot of comings and goings.”

The director added that Farnworth is a “nice area” but that much of it is already commercial and that a neighbouring off-licence has been robbed twice, forcing it to bolster its security.

The company attributed congestion in the area to customers visiting businesses in the area.

He added that with some reconfiguration of the land, the number of spaces could be increased to 15, arguing that people living in the rooms would generally only need to use a car when leaving for work and returning.

A previous planning permission to turn it into nine flats was not financially viable, he said.

In terms of the demographics of tenants, he said the law prohibits discrimination against customers such as those on welfare but that the rent rates of around £100-£115 a week would determine the types of occu