The proposed facility, designed to house 24 vulnerable youngsters, is currently being led by London Councils, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
Waltham Forest Council is poised to lead the construction of London’s only secure children’s home, after lengthy delays.
London Councils and the Department for Education (DfE) has proposed the authority designs and builds the unit on a former waterworks in Lea Bridge Road.
There are currently no plans for the council to handle the day-to-day management of the centre, and the takeover will require approval by top councillors.
A spokesperson for London Councils said: “Should cabinet approve this proposal, the council’s capital delivery team will start working with London Councils to deliver this much needed secure children’s home on behalf of London local authorities.”
The facility would house 24 vulnerable youngsters.
The spokesperson added: “There is still a national shortage of welfare placements in secure children’s homes and currently there is no service of this kind in London.
“This means some of London’s most vulnerable children and young people are still waiting too long for the specialist care they need, or they are placed hundreds of miles away – far from their families, carers, friends and other people that are important to them.
“This distance has a negative impact on the work that local authorities, health and education services do to help children and young people make a successful transition from secure care back into the community.”
Though the government and Waltham Forest Council have indicated support for the children’s home, local residents have pushed for the land to be turned into a wild swimming park open to the public.
The East London Waterworks Park (ELWP) team has shared plans for a natural swimming pool, a ‘forest school,’ an arts building and mosaics on the Metropolitan open land (MOL).
The charity has so far raised more than £500,000 to transform the land, which rests on the border of Waltham Forest and Hackney, into a place for the community.
It maintains a swimming park would be a better use of MOL, and more in line with the policy’s intentions to protect the city’s landscape.
It has not yet submitted a formal proposal to convert the land, which is owned by the government.
London Councils has been tight-lipped about the exact specifications of the centre or why the Lea Bridge site was chosen for the secure children’s home from a longlist of 70.
Formal planning permission has not yet been granted for the unit either and there is currently no timeline in place.
Plans were put on hold last August so the DfE could review how the project would be delivered. It also needed to undergo “further design development”.
London Councils said at the time it carried out the review in order to “give this complex project and our future planning application the greatest chance of success”.
A decision on the council taking over the design and development of the home is expected to be made on Tuesday, 9th September.
Editor’s note (14/08): This article has been corrected to state plans for the site were put on hold in August 2024, and not September 2024. A line stating London Councils chose the Lea Bridge Road site has been removed and the photo caption has been updated to state the artist’s visual impression of the site is subject to continued design development.
No news is bad news
Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.
The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.
If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.
Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.
Monthly direct debit
Annual direct debit
£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.
More information on supporting us monthly or annually
More Information about donations
