Concerns to be raised tonight (February 12) about growing number of children's homes in Fylde

A growing number of children's homes are slipping through planning procedures and opening in Fylde, the borough's full council will hear tonight (Monday February 12).

Members of the public have submitted questions to the meeting, raising further concerns about an issue which has already been a hot topic of debate at a previous Fylde scrutiny meeting last month.

What are the concerns?

That meeting heard from a special Task and Finish group that there was a significant oversupply in the number of children’s homes places in Lancashire to meet local need - more than four times the number of children's home beds in the county than required.

Fylde Borough was found to have seen the biggest growth in additonal children’s homes of any Lancashire -11 new homes between September 2022 and September 2023).

The report also found that the children in many of these homes did not even come from Lancashire, and that the majority of applications required only lawful development certificates which are not judged against planning policy and do not take the views of the local community into consideraton.

The report found that some of the homes placed an extra burdon on local resources, including the police, and concerns had been raised about the suitability of some of those running the homes and the location of the premises.

What are the residents saying?

Gemma Daniel submitrted the following question to tonight's Full Council meeting, stating: "Following the publication of the Scrutiny Committee's report on the upsurge of children's homes from 18 to 28 inthe Fylde from September 2022 to September 2023, please can the Council advise on how many children's care homes are required in the Fylde area to support demand?”

Another question, on a similar theme, has been put forward by resident Ken Cridland, who says: “My question is, will the Council be taking further steps beyond those in the Scrutiny Report, and if so what steps? "I was one amongst the many members of the public who attended the last Scrutiny Committee meeting about Children's Care Homes in the Fylde.

"The report outlined the serious issues and problems that are developing and growing in the Fylde.

"It was a good report, but could have gone further.

"The recommendations felt inadequate in the face of the problems. I can think of several areas where Fylde Council could do a lot more than is proposed.

"So my question is, will the Council be taking further steps beyond those in the Scrutiny Report, and if so what steps?"

The meeting is due to begin at 7pm.

What happens next?

The matter will next be discussed at Fylde's Executive Committee on Monday February 19.