Inquiry finds council mishandled development of residential children's home
Joe Lepper
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Dumfries and Galloway council has been criticised for its handling of plans to develop a residential childcare unit in the area.
The independent inquiry into the council decision to buy Cairnryan House in Stranraer and convert it into a children’s home was carried out by public services improvement company Solace Enterprises.
The inquiry uncovered a range of failings on the part of the council. An offer of £390,000 was made to buy the property, but councillors were only told of the bid a month later, and the offer was made before a full structural survey had been carried out.?
The inquiry meanwhile found that the public consultation into the proposals to develop the home was flawed, because the council failed to follow national guidelines.
At two public consultation meetings local residents, who opposed the plans, said their views were not taken into account. ?“Public engagement events were not effectively managed” and feedback from the officers “was inadequate and did not address the concerns raised by the residents”, the inquiry said.
The Solace report did however find that the purchase and redevelopment of Cairnryan House offers value for money to local taxpayers, costing a total of £810,400 compared to the estimated £1.87m cost of building a new children’s home.
The Cairnryan House children’s home is intended to replace Milton House Children’s Home, also in Stranraer, which has been judged to be unsuitable by inspectors.
At a council meeting this Thursday (August 23) councillors will be asked to act on the Solace report’s recommendations.
These recommendations suggest appointing a dedicated project manager to lead on future building and redevelopment projects and making sure that all future public consultation events are led by senior staff with specific training, among others.
A spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway council said the authority could not comment on the report until after the council meeting on Thursday.
The council’s director of social work services has pledged that councillors will be consulted before decisions such as those covered in the inquiry are made in future.
