New care provision for people with additional needs

Oldham could soon receive a new day and night respite care facility for kids with additional needs, if the council approves a planning application. 

A proposal by NW Care Property Limited would see an eight-bedroom residential dwelling on Greenacres Road turned into a specialised care provision. The home would include seven overnight places and ten day time spots.

There would be around 13 full-time staff who would arrive at staggered times throughout the day, according to plans submitted by planning agent Sarah Sands from Emery Planning on behalf of the care providers. 

NW Care Group is a private provider with two children’s homes in Sale and Partington, and four more planned for other locations in the North West. 
The new home in Oldham would retain 12 parking spaces currently on the site. Sand added that ‘most staff journeys occur outside the busiest commuter period’. 

Staff would also be encouraged to car pool to minimise the impact on local traffic and parking, she added. 

The ‘Change of Use’ application, which would permit the home to run as a care facility instead of a residential home, is due to be decided on by April 16.

NW Care’s proposal comes as Oldham Council seeks to better support its SEND kids, after it emerged the borough has a higher than average number of children with additional needs. 

Around six per cent of Oldham’s youngsters are on an education, health, and care plan (EHCP) versus four per cent nationally. 
The local authority is struggling to keep up with soaring demand and costs of SEND provisions. 

The townhall is around £5.4m over budget in children’s social care spend. In part, this is as a result of costly, specialised residential placements, which tend to be provided by private firms as the council do not have the resources to manage their own specialist provisions.