An attempt to convert a family home into a residential care facility for children with behavioural issues has been thrown out after the county council revealed astonishing data about children’s homes in Lancashire.

Applicant Willow Tree Care Group had asked Burnley Council for permission to convert a property on Station Road, Padiham, into a 24-hour care facility for three children aged eight to 17.

The home would have provided round-the-clock care for children on medium or long-term placements with learning disabilities, autism, mental health conditions, and challenging behaviours.

However, planning officers decided to reject the application following objections from county hall, after it was revealed that Lancashire contains almost 10% of all children’s homes in England despite being just 2.2% of the country’s population.

Burnley councillors have decided how their constituents will elect the next generation of politicians (Credit: Will Morgan)

placeholder image — Burnley councillors have decided how their constituents will elect the next generation of politicians (Credit: Will Morgan)

According to the latest data from Lancashire County Council’s Children and Families Commissioning Service, the county now has around 500% more residential childcare provision than is needed to meet local demand.

This is because lower-than-average house prices have made Lancashire a target for private childcare providers from across the country, with children from authorities lacking provision increasingly being placed in homes across the county.

In March, county hall said the imbalance had reached such a level that almost three in four privately run children’s homes within Lancashire were caring for no Lancashire children at all.

While that may sound like good news for Lancashire youngsters needing residential placements, the county’s children’s services experts warned the oversupply is creating recruitment and retention problems across the sector, risking a decline in the quality of care available to vulnerable children.

Objecting to the Padiham proposal, the Children and Families Commissioning Service said: “This oversupply is affecting both local services and staffing which has a negative impact on the quality of provision across Lancashire.”

The authority added that although there remains some unmet demand for highly specialised provision, the county already has around five times more children’s home places than it requires overall, and warned that continued expansion risks further exacerbating staffing pressures.

The applicant argued the home was intended to cater for children with specialist and complex needs and said evidence pointed to an oversupply of generic children’s homes rather than specialist provision.

However, officers said the application was ‘generic’, lacked site-specific information and failed to demonstrate that it would meet the type of bespoke need identified by Lancashire County Council.

The report added that children requiring specialist provision needed ‘the right homes, in the right places’ and concluded the application had failed to show why the Padiham property was a suitable location.

Officers also raised concerns about parking and the suitability of the building itself.