Borstal Children's Home Plan: 5 Teens, Comments Close 20 Oct

A former vicarage on Borstal Street could become supported accommodation for up to five 16 and 17 year olds in care. The application, MC/26/1785, asks Medway Council for a change of use at The Vicarage, 76 Borstal Street, Rochester, ME1 3HL. The house would move from a family home (use class C3) to a residential institution (C2).

The council validated it on 28 September. Neighbours and anyone else can comment until Tuesday 20 October 2026. The council’s internal target for a decision is 23 November.

Who would run it

The planning statement was prepared by Graham Simpkin Planning for Oasis Community Trust. The draft management plan places the home inside the Oasis Charitable Trust, the national charity that also runs Oasis Restore, the secure school on Sir Evelyn Road in Rochester.

The plan calls the house Middletree House. It says Oasis Community Housing already runs Ofsted-registered supported accommodation in Southwark and Teesside, and that Medway would be its next site.

Who would live there

The management plan says referrals would come only from local authority children’s services. It lists three groups of 16 and 17 year olds, boys or girls, who could be placed there:

• young people leaving residential care who are judged ready to move towards living more independently
• young people remanded into the care of a local authority by the courts, who may have to keep to court conditions
• young people released from a secure placement into a council’s care, for a period of resettlement

The plan says each referral would be weighed against the needs and risks of the young people already living there. It also says residents may be under conditions set by the police, the courts or children’s services, such as a curfew. Breaches would be reported to the management team straight away.

Any stay beyond a resident’s 18th birthday would have to be agreed with the placing authorities. The management plan says the home would be registered with Ofsted under the Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023.

Staffing, and where the documents differ

The planning statement describes 24-hour staffing on three shifts: 7am to 3pm, 2pm to 10pm and 9.30pm to 7.30am. It puts the residential team at about 10 to 12 people across the shifts, plus a manager, a deputy, a social work coordinator and the equivalent of one full-time cleaning and maintenance post. The management plan says at least two staff would be on duty overnight, with managers on call.

The documents do not agree on every detail:

• Bedrooms: the transport statement says the house has four bedrooms. The planning statement says it has five, plus a storage room that would become a bedroom.
• Staff: the transport statement assumes one or two staff at any one time, working two shifts a day. The planning statement describes three shifts and a residential team of 10 to 12.
• Shift times: the planning statement gives the three shifts above. The management plan gives the late shift as 2.30pm to 10pm and the night shift ending at 7am.

The cap the applicant offers is five residents. The planning statement says the council could fix the number of children and staff by planning condition.

Parking and the church

The house has no off-street parking. The transport statement says St Matthew’s Church, which owned the house and adjoins it to the west, has agreed that staff can park in its car park. It estimates two or three extra vehicle movements a day compared with the house as a family home, and calls that “not material”.

The nearest bus stop is The White Horse, about 25 metres away according to the transport statement, served by the 135, the 155 and the 638 school bus.

The transport statement says the house has stood empty “for a number of years”. The management plan says security improvements to the house and garden have “brought welcome comments from the church and local village”. It promises regular contact with the parish and the Diocese of Rochester, and a community allotment in the rear garden in 2027.

How this compares

Medway refused a children’s home in Rochester last month. Its decision notice, dated 3 September, turned down a three-child home at 9 Clive Road, a 112 square metre terrace, on space and traffic grounds. The Borstal Street house is detached, with a rear garden of about 29 metres, according to the planning statement.

The applicant’s planning statement leans on an appeal decision from a different site. It argues that a home where care staff work shifts, rather than living in, cannot count as a single household and so falls under C2. It also says the applicant has taken advice from a police Designing Out Crime officer.

What it means for you

If you live near Borstal Street, the council will take comments until 20 October. You can:

• read the plans, the planning statement, the transport statement and the draft management plan on the application page
• comment online from the same page, quoting MC/26/1785

Comments carry most weight when they deal with planning matters, such as noise and disturbance, parking, the effect on the street and how the home would be managed.

The management plan says Oasis would recruit the home’s leaders in January 2027, after the planning decision, so that Ofsted registration can start. Even if the council approves it, the home would not open until Ofsted has registered it.

For how Medway’s planning system works, and the other big applications open for comment, see our Medway planning applications page.