A children’s home has been given the go-ahead for Richmond after planning permission was granted on Wednesday (February 21).

At the moment there are no children’s homes in the borough and the facility, located in Teddington and run by Achieving for Children, will provide spaces for up to five local children.

There are currently 108 Richmond children in care and some have been housed “as far away as Cumbria” due to a lack of local provision.

The application to build the six-bed, three-storey home at 105 Queen’s Road, the site of a derelict bungalow, received 14 objections from neighbours.

Residents were concerned about insufficient parking provision, road safety as a result, and loss of privacy and light.

Three neighbours spoke against the plans at the meeting.

One said his view “would be totally lost to a three-storey brick wall”.

He said: “Council policy requires schemes to be compatible with the scale and character of the existing properties and not to overshadow them.”

He added the building would be “1.5 times the size” of his property and would “completely overshadow my property at the front, the side and the rear”.

All three were concerned about a lack of sufficient parking and the danger it would pose.

However, Ashley Whittaker, Achieving for Children project manager, appeared to ease councillors’ concerns about this issue.

He said “none of the staff” would be able to park there and would be expected to arrive by public transport or bicycle, that there were two parking spaces and one would be for the family vehicle, while the other would be for “occasional” visitors.

Mr Whittaker said parking would be “strictly” controlled.

Loss of privacy was also an issue, with one neighbour raising concerns about the number of side facing windows, six of which would look into her home.

In response to neighbours’ concerns, Jason Tate, the architect commissioned for the home, said he had reduced the amount of windows and “obscured glazing” would be put in place.

Speaking in favour of the proposal, Councillor Susan Chappell, strategic cabinet member for children’s services and schools, said the council is “legally and morally” required to have a children’s home locally.

She said: “At the moment there are no children’s homes in the borough and this means that all looked after children are in private or out of borough placement with children sometimes being placed as far afield as Cumbria.

“Just imagine how this would feel for a child already facing family breakup.

“I’m sure we want to keep our children in their own community.”

On choosing the location, she said it is “very difficult” to find a site for infrastructure projects in the borough, and that 105 Queen’s Road was “considered acceptable in planning terms” met DfE standards, and “could be delivered in a timely manner”.

The other prospective sites would not be ready until “at least mid-2020s”.

Just before the vote, Cllr David Linnette said: “Regardless of what we think of this site, in planning terms, I don’t think we’re able to reach any other conclusion other than that this is acceptable.”

Cllr O’Malley added that although the number of windows proposed was a “significant difference” compared with the previous application, which was for a family home, “the net benefit of the proposal is such that we should approve it”.

The application, along with an informative to improve communication between neighbours, the council, and Achieving for Children, was voted through seven to one abstention.

Cllr Chappell said it was “fantastic news for our looked after children”.

She said: “The new house will provide a specialist space, providing supported living opportunities locally for five local children and has been designed to be in keeping with the surrounding properties and we have amended the plans through the planning process to reflect residents and planners’ comments.

“The new home will give the children the opportunity to be part of a local community and so I am delighted that the planning committee have asked for an informative to set up a process to start a dialogue between residents and the home ahead of its opening.”