A Planning Inspector has ruled that a former family home in South London should be turned into a children’s care home, despite dozens of objections from residents. Bromley locals claim the dilapidated state of the property, on Clarendon Way in Chislehurst, led to it being taken over by criminals who used it as a cannabis factory.
What they claim has been poor maintenance of the building means they believe it will be unsuitable for a children’s home, and they say motorists speeding on the road could make it a dangerous location for kids. Hillary Gray, 57, has lived on Clarendon Way for 23 years. She said neighbours were under the impression that a mother and young child were renting the house several years ago.
Ms Gray told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “It’s rundown now, it hasn’t been looked after. The people in there before were supposed to be a lady and a young child and it turned out to be a drug den… The police came and they stopped that, but we just don’t trust what’s going on over there.”
Hillary Gray, 57, claims the house has not been looked after for years
(Image: Joe Coughlan)
The local said she only became aware about the alleged criminal activity in the house when the police arrived to raid the building in March 2023. There’s no suggestion the building’s owner was involved with or knew about any criminal activity.
An application to convert the house into a children’s care home was considered by Bromley Council in April last year, submitted by Bithoms Support Services Limited. The home would provide care for up to three children at a time, between the ages of 8 and 16. While Bithoms would run the home, the ownership of the building would remain the same.
The proposal received 84 objections from residents and was refused by the authority. Councillors claimed the scheme would be out of keeping with the area’s residential character and the site was not close to public transport links or public services.
The decision was appealed by Bithoms and a representation against the appeal was made by residents. The legal counsel for the neighbours claimed the appellant lacked credibility and there were several safeguarding concerns following incidents with a previous children’s home in the area which had been badly run.
Furthermore, residents noted that another children’s home run by Bithoms in Medway had been rated as requiring improvement by Ofsted in an inspection in August last year, with the effectiveness of leaders and managers at the home described as being inadequate.
However, permission was ultimately granted by Planning Inspector David Reed last month, who said the proposal would help address the need for children’s care homes in Bromley borough and that there were no planning reasons for the site being unsuitable. The decision report contested the authority’s claim the home would be an over-intensive use of the site, stating the use would be similar to that of a family with three children.
Rubbish started accumulating outside the house several years ago
(Image: Joe Coughlan)
Another resident of Clarendon Way, who wished to remain anonymous, said the house was originally a family home but later became derelict. They said they called the police in late February 2023 after smelling cannabis from the building while they thought a mother and child were renting the space.
They told the LDRS: “We kept hearing noises very late at night and early in the morning… I could smell quite a lot of cannabis there and it was quite strong.”
They added: “The police came in and took all of the equipment away, took all the plants away… There used to be a mound of laughing gas cans on the street but the moment it got shut down, all of that disappeared.”
The local said that shortly after the police raided the property, several houses on the street temporarily lost power after the electricity supply was disconnected. They claimed that it was as a result of an individual tampering with the electricity mains to provide power to the house for a cannabis farm.
They said: “Some electrician came in and said that house could have burned down because they basically just wired the house up to the skies to put the lights in for growing cannabis.”
A spokesperson for UK Power Networks, which manages the electricity infrastructure in the area, told the LDRS: “Our engineers attended a property on Clarendon Way, Bromley on April 16, 2023 at the request of the landlord to disconnect the electricity supply for safety reasons. This needed a 20-minute power isolation to 16 properties from 9.05pm and we apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
They added: “It is very dangerous to interfere with electricity distribution equipment. Although electricity is key to all our lives, and safe when treated with respect, it is extremely dangerous if equipment is tampered with or vandalised.”
Rakesh Chibbei, 69, said many of his neighbours do not feel the property is appropriate for a children’s home
(Image: Joe Coughlan)
HM Land Registry documents seen by the LDRS stated that the owner of the house has been the same since October 2016. The resident said that locals are concerned about the success of the proposed children’s home given the previous issues at the property.
The neighbour said: “The ownership is still with [the same person who’s owned it since 2016] and that’s what really worries us… It’s so frustrating and it doesn’t really bode well.”
They added: “These streets are not bad streets, but you get this thing here and rubbish is beginning to accumulate. Things are beginning to break.”
Rakesh Chibbei, 69, has lived in the area for 18 years and said he does not feel the property is an appropriate location for the new children’s home. He said residents are also concerned about speeding vehicles on the road and how safe children staying in the home would be as a result. Mr Chibbei told the LDRS: “People are naturally worried. It’s more of a residential road.”
He added: “I think the council has failed to look at the speeding here. Everyone’s complaining about it. At a certain time, they are going about 40 to 50 miles per hour. So for children, it’s not ideal. It will be a big problem.”
The building’s owner, Bithoms, the Met Police and Bromley Council were approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.
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