News / planning
Typo made by company in Solihull causes change of policy at Bristol City Council
A typo by a consultancy firm in the West Midlands caused a change of policy at Bristol City Council.
On a planning application for a house in Brislington that was approved to be turned into a children’s home, a statement mistakenly said that the care provider would be employing staff from Birmingham.
The application led to a discussion at the most recent meeting of the children & young people policy committee at City Hall.
New processes were put in place following the application that Bristol City Council officers believed was from Birmingham City Council, meaning that Bristol’s planning department now have to notify their colleagues in the children & families department of any application regarding a children’s home.
This particular application was for a property in Brislington, with Brislington West councillor Andrew Varney telling the meeting in June that “we need to know what’s going on so we can have a say”.
At the meeting, committee chair Christine Townsend said that “if Birmingham want to buy a house in Bristol and put their provider in there to run that, that’s for to them to do and that’s how it is at the national level”.
It was Bristol24/7’s report of proceedings that first alerted Birmingham City Council to the mistake, which the largest local authority in Europe has now asked to be corrected at the next meeting of the children & young people committee.
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “Birmingham City Council has not purchased the building in question or applied for planning permission in Bristol.
“Our officers have established that there was an error in a planning statement submitted, which referenced Birmingham and Birmingham City Council instead of Bristol and Bristol City Council.
“The applicant, who is completely independent to Birmingham City Council, has confirmed to us that the provider’s operations, staffing and service delivery relate entirely to Bristol.
“This planning application has nothing to do with Birmingham City Council.
“We are focused on building local sufficiency for children and have no plans to open a children’s home in another local authority area.”
An email seen by Bristol24/7 reveals that the original application for the new children’s home in Brislington was submitted by Anjum Design of Solihull.
Company director Anjum Mehmood describes himself on the Anjum Design website as an “architectural designer and planning consultant specialising in C2 children’s homes, HMOs and commercial conversions”.
C2 is the planning use code used in the UK for children’s homes.
In an email explaining his mistake, Mehmood said: “I would like to bring to your attention a typographical error within the planning statement submitted as part of this application.
“The statement incorrectly referenced ‘Birmingham’ in relation to the care provider’s employment of staff, where it should have read ‘Bristol’.
“This arose from an outdated template used in preparing the document and does not reflect the true position – the provider’s operations, staffing and service delivery relate entirely to Bristol.”
Bristol24/7 has asked Mehmood for comment.
Main photo: Visit Birmingham & West Midlands
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