a GROUP of Foulridge residents have expressed concern that a home for children with behavioural difficulties is set to open in the village – and there is little or nothing they can do about it.
Pendle Council planning manager Neil Watson told the residents, who raised the matter at the council’s Colne and District Committee, that under planning law an application to change the use of the five-bedroomed house to a residential property of this nature was not necessary.
They had questioned the suitability of the location, off Station Road, for such accommodation.
The village’s borough councillor, Coun. Graham Waugh, said he understood there would be three children of “unspecified” age living at the house with three carers on a one-to-one basis.
He said the developer had not wanted to engage with anyone about his plans and it would have been better for everyone if he had been more open.
“There is a great deal of difference between a child with behavioural difficulties and one with learning problems” said Coun. Waugh. “The house could in future be home to a 16-year-old delinquent and it is in totally the wrong place.”