On 12 th August 2026, a meeting was held at the Council House with officers from Corporate Parenting & Sufficiency. In setting out the reasons behind the request for this meeting, on behalf of the Coventry Society, Tim Brown explained that the Council’s planning department has been receiving at least two planning applications per month since autumn 2025 for a change of use from residential to children’s
homes. It has also just received its first application for a change of use from a house to a home for care leavers from a new entrant to the market in Coventry. These developments had in turn led to possible concerns as to the legitimacy of such applications.
In response, it was explained that for many years there has been a significant shift nationally away from the provision of residential care for children in larger council-run institutions towards much smaller units in contexts more representative of a domestic environment. In parallel with this, since the introduction of the 1989 Children Act there has also been a rise in the number of privately-run care homes operating in
addition to council provision.
Within Coventry itself, there is currently provision for 65-75 places in children’s homes with over 70% of looked after children placed in foster homes, which is higher than regional and national figures. The Council now has nine children’s homes and also makes use of registered private sector providers, with more details concerning this provision available on the Council’s Sufficiency Strategy webpages.
In particular, attention was drawn to two areas of need:
- Small scale provision offering 1 or 2 places for children, there being no requirement for 4-bedroom homes
- Provision for children with challenging behaviours and/or complex needs.
In terms of the planning process, there should be no blanket refusal for new children’s homes. Also, there should be a focus on ‘the right type of provision in the right location and at the right time’, which applicants should consider in their justification for any planning application. In particular, planning applications are welcomed from existing highly rated registered providers wishing to expand and meet the gaps in provision in the city.
Against this background, the following criteria are used by Children’s Services when consulted on planning applications:
- Right type of accommodation
- Suitable location and siting e.g. avoiding clusters in a single neighbourhood through to site-specific issues such as avoiding major roads and areas with high crime levels, which means that an additional document as part of the planning application process is required giving a location risk assessment
- Company history (i.e. existing operation of children’s homes) and a track record
of good ratings provision from Ofsted.
In light of the above, Tim has suggested the following factors might be included when Coventry Society members consider future applications for children’s homes:
Applicant evidence
Has the applicant demonstrated that there is a need for a children’s home for looked after children in Coventry? (i.e. the right type of accommodation)
Has the applicant provided a location risk assessment? (i.e. the right location – suitable for children and suitable for the community)
Has the applicant demonstrated competence for running a children’s home, with evidence of a good Ofsted rating?
Impact
Cumulative impact of loss of residential houses in the city
One issue which arose concerned the question of whether it was always necessary to secure planning permission before converting a residential house (C3) into a children’s home (C2) on the grounds that this might be deemed not to constitute a material change.
Nonetheless, whether this constitutes a material change or not, Ofsted stipulates the following to those seeking to fulfil their statutory obligation to register a children’s care home with Ofsted:
“You must provide us with a copy of one of the following:
- evidence of planning permission
- confirmation from the local authority that no planning permission is required
- confirmation from the local authority that the proposed property’s current use
- class is allowed
- a copy of your planning permission application
We cannot carry out a registration visit until you have provided us with one of the above.
On the basis of the above, it is clear that any party intending to open a children’s home will of necessity have to apply to the relevant planning authority before progressing further, if only to secure agreement that no such approval is required.
For an example of how such considerations are dealt with in practice, see the application statement made in support of a recent application (PL/2025/0002460/FUL) for a children’s home in Coventry and the subsequent decision notice, which sets out the grounds for rejection in this case.