A NEW £3.8 million children’s home will replace an ‘obsolete’ facility after Tameside Council approved plans for a new building.
The ageing six-bed Boyds Walk Children’s Unit in Dukinfield, which has housed vulnerable youngsters since 1983, was branded ‘unsafe’ and ‘ineffective’ in a report by the authority in 2022.
It said wheelchair users and those who needed two carers struggled to use it because its corridors were so narrow, with some children being forced to live out of the borough on costly private contracts paid by the council.
The new home, Meadow View on the former site of Flowery Field Primary School in Hyde, will house nine disabled children, with four bedrooms for long-term residents and the other five reserved for short-term and respite care.
However, the budget for the scheme has risen by almost £600,000 since it was first drawn up in October 2022.
Additional funds will include £100,000 from the Department for Education (DfE) – on top of an existing £1.63 million grant – with £455,000 being transferred from the Boyds Walk budget and unallocated money from other projects.
“It should be noted that the total grant award of £1.733 million towards the scheme must be expended by March 31, 2026 and comply with the associated grant conditions,” read Tameside Council’s report into approving the proposal.
“The revised total cost of the scheme is £3.806 million and a contingency sum of £14,000 will remain.”
Although Jigsaw Homes owns the freehold for Boyds Walk, the group has an informal rental agreement in place with Tameside Council as documents add: “There isn’t a signed lease with Jigsaw for the property, but the parties have acted if there is, with the council paying rent and Jigsaw maintaining the structure of the property.”
Meadow View has been named by children who may end up living there, while the North West arm of Robertson Construction has already completed preliminary design and enabling works on the site.