Care home for disabled children deemed unsafe to get £3.2m replacement

A new respite care facility for children will be built on the land of an old school in Hyde.

At the former location of  Flowery Field Primary School off Old Road the new nine-bedroom care facility will be created to replace the Boyds Walk Children’s Unit in Dukinfield. Plans, tabled by Tameside Council, include administrative support, sensory facilities, independent living modules, and play areas.

This comes almost two years on from when town hall bosses signed off on a £3.2m care home for disabled children. The council made the move after a watchdog found the Boyds Walk home posed safety risks to its vulnerable residents.

Boyds Walk has been used to look after vulnerable young people aged between 11 and 17 since 1983. A report from the executive cabinet meeting in November 2022 found that the layout of the building presented health and safety risks to the children and staff within it, due to narrow hallways and corridors.

At the time, examples of children with disabilities who needed two carers being unable to access the service due to the ‘ineffective’ functioning of the property and its inability to cater for intensive staff numbers. This led to children having to go into costly out-of-borough placements with private companies.

In the plan for the replacement unit, four of the nine resident bedrooms are designed for long-term stays with the other five for short-term/respite stays, planning documents explain.

All bedroom units are to contain tough furniture, wall mounted TV, single bed wardrobe, and bedside table on wheels. There will also be two kitchen/living areas, two sensory rooms as well as two staff offices and two staff bedrooms.

Planning papers read: “The scheme is to be domestic and homely to make comfortable and pleasant spaces for all residents. The building is to be single storey and set back from the main street. 

“Car parking facilities will be created on the northern site edge by use of the school access road. The main entrances aim to be homely and welcoming with car parking limited in exposure to the main residents with accommodation facing onto other façades where possible.
“Accessible spaces will be located as close to the main entrances as possible.”

The car parking area that would provide 13 spaces, including three disabled parking spaces.