Row erupts over plan to put troubled children in village
A NIMBY row has broken out over plans for troubled youngsters to be housed in a peaceful country village.
Residents of Barlaston said they do not want the home on their doorstep because the children “are noisy and generally disruptive” and would “get up to mischief ”.
The plan for the children’s care home in Longton Road, presented to Stafford Borough Council, has since been withdrawn after it attracted more than 20 objections.
Longton Road is a five-minute drive from Barlaston Hall, a country mansion dating from 1756 and overlooking the River Trent, which was bought by the Wedgewood Pottery company in the 1930s and restored by Save Britain’s Heritage in the 1980s.
The proposed three-bedroom detached home for troubled children is to provide accommodation for up to three under-18s at a time.
But the council has received strong opposition from Barlaston residents to the plans, which were put forward by Envisage Children’s Care Limited.
On social media, some people called the residents “snobs and Nimbies” with one user posting: “What horrible people to refuse it. I hope when they end their days it’s alone.”
One Longton Road resident objecting to the scheme, who asked not to be named, said: “I am very concerned about the whole situation. I have lived in Barlaston for 43 years and would like to end my days here. This is predominantly a retired community with few children living locally with very little infrastructure for them. So the potential for boredom is high with all the things that can follow and have done in the same situations elsewhere. There is nothing round here for them to do except get up to mischief.”
Another Longton Road resident, who also asked to remain anonymous, said: “This is a very quiet village. Youngsters are noisy by their very nature, they shout at each other and listen to loud music and are generally disruptive.”
A planning statement submitted as part of the application said: “The children would be cared for by two members of staff at any time plus visits from a registered manager. The carers would not be permanent residents of the property but would work on a shift basis.
“The three resident children would have their own rooms, with the ethos of the home being to provide a residence that has an environment as close as practically possible to normal family life in order to ensure that the children can live a life of normality in the local community.”