Rutland children’s home approved by council

A project to set up a new children’s care home in Rutland has been approved.

Rutland County Council agreed the scheme to buy up the three bedroom home in an unnamed location at its full council meeting last night (March 27), although there were some concerns voiced by a number of opposition councillors, mainly about the lack of detail being provided about the finances and how it will work.

The authority currently sends all of the children in its statutory care to be looked after in homes outside the county. The report, written by the council’s head of children’s services Dawn Godfrey, said that one family was having to do a round trip of more than 140 miles to see their child. The authority looks after about 30 children.

The new home will be run by a partner and will cater for children with complex needs and may take in children from other local authorities. The authority will spend £1.45 million on the purchase and renovation, although it has not been stated where the money will come from and may be borrowed.

Cabinet member Tim Smith (Lib Dem) said the project showed the council at its best and was a long term investment saving, but some did not agree.

New cabinet member Coun Rosemary Powell was critical of the proposal and told the meeting held at Catmose House: "This proposal left me with a lot of questions."

She said the paper had not been to scrutiny or cabinet and there had been no briefing.

"I would have expected at least a heads up from the portfolio holder," she added.

Coun Powell said there were many details in the project which remained unclear and that she felt it was a rushed proposal that has not been properly presented to members. She said it was unclear how the capital project would be paid for.

“When was the last time this council borrowed money - at least 10 years ago - to purchase an asset that will be run by a third party.”

And Coun Oliver Hemsley said "this paper is a casualty of a failure of keeping your elected members informed of what is happening". He said that cabinet members had no doubt been briefed but the other members of the 27-strong authority had not been informed.

But cabinet member Coun Andrew Johnson, who has responsibility for finance, said the proposal outperforms every other project on savings and could save the authority £46,000 a month and more than £500,000 in a year. The authority spends £1.5 million a year on residential placements and the report said that a significant proportion (27%) went on paying for placements for just five children.

He said: “The attitudes expressed are the reason why the council has not made these sorts of decisions in the past and represent a degree of vacillation which I find regrettable.”

In the end the proposal was passed with a clear majority, 18 councillors in favour, three against and one abstention.