New Sleaford secure children’s home given green light

Members of Lincolnshire County Council’s Planning & Regulation Committee unanimously endorsed the facility, which is set to be located on Bonemill Lane, during a meeting on Monday.

The initiative seeks to satisfy both national and local demands for increased children’s criminal justice and welfare placements and will eventually replace the smaller, existing children’s secure unit in Sleaford.

It aims to prioritise care for some of Lincolnshire’s most vulnerable children while also serving as a national resource within England.

The envisioned site will house administrative facilities, kitchen and dining areas, educational and teaching spaces, sports facilities, as well as secured outdoor courtyards.

The development will also feature a new service road, a car park, a surface water attenuation pond, landscaped areas, renewable energy provision, and a battery store.

Senior Project Manager Matthew Stapleton is at the helm of this project. He underscored its necessity, highlighting that the existing 12-bed children’s home on Rookery Avenue is at full capacity, leaving over 70 children awaiting secure placement.

He added: “The building is innovative and draws from best practice both nationally and across Europe.”

In addition to preserving 65 existing jobs, Mr Stapleton later disclosed that the project could generate up to 100 potential new long-term jobs.

Councillor Ian Carrington was just one of the committee members to voice his support for the project, stating: “We are very proud of the work we do with children.

“This application reminds us that we are not just dealing with the regular run-of-the-mill of schools. Sometimes we are dealing very necessarily with young people who are in difficulties, whose lives have gone wrong and who are troubled in many ways.”

The representative for Potterhanworth and Coleby expressed hope that this facility would help these young people get their lives “back on track.”