Planning committee approved Strawberry House in Winscombe on 23 September, for up to three children. It opens in early 2027; Weston's Haven House in November.
Update, 28 September 2026: permission granted. North Somerset’s Planning and Regulatory Committee approved the Winscombe children’s home on Wednesday 23 September (North Somerset Council, 25 September).
The officers’ report to the committee recorded 57 letters of objection, and the update sheet on the day added three more, so 60 in all. The parish council supported the home with conditions, as set out below. Ward councillor Joe Tristram referred the application to committee (officers’ report, 26/P/1291/R3; update sheet, 23 September).
The conditions the officers recommended include:
- work must begin within three years
- the home must run in line with its approved Operational Management Plan, and any change to that plan needs the council’s written approval
- the house can only be used as a children’s home for three young people “aged between 8 and 17”, and not as any other type of care home
On a late objection about a 1.8m front fence and a log cabin, the update sheet says the application includes neither. A fence that high beside the road would need its own planning permission.
What happens next, according to the council:
- Haven House in Weston-super-Mare, approved in June, is being refurbished and is expected to open in November
- Strawberry House in Winscombe is expected to open in early 2027
- the two homes cost £2m between them, and the council estimates they will save over £250,000 a home each year
- there are nearly 300 looked after children in North Somerset
The council’s release gives the age range for both homes as eight to 18. Its earlier report to full council put Haven House at 11 to 18. The Winscombe condition says 8 to 17.
Our report of 1 September
North Somerset Council has corrected a report to its own councillors about a children’s home it wants to open in Winscombe. The report said planning permission had been granted on 11 August and that refurbishment started on 17 August. Neither had happened.
The correction is set out in an addendum published on 28 August, ahead of the full council meeting on Tuesday 8 September. (North Somerset Council, addendum to Council report)
“The previous report incorrectly stated that planning permission had been granted and that refurbishment works had commenced,” it says. “This information was incorrect.”
What the planning register actually shows
The application is 26/P/1291/R3, a change of use from a dwelling to a children’s home at a property in Well Close, Winscombe. The council submitted it to itself. Its published record confirms the addendum, and adds a detail the addendum does not mention. (North Somerset Council planning register, 26/P/1291/R3)
- Received: 18 June 2026
- Validated: 30 June 2026
- Consultation closed: 24 July 2026
- Determination deadline: 25 August 2026
- Status: Registered. No decision has been made.
The statutory determination deadline passed a week ago. There is no extended deadline recorded against the application.
The register also holds 69 public comments. Every one of them is logged as an objection. None is logged as support or neutral.
The parish council supports it, with conditions
That tally does not mean the village institutions are against the home. Winscombe and Sandford Parish Council wrote to the planning authority on 29 July supporting the proposal in principle, “subject to appropriate planning conditions and safeguards”. (Winscombe and Sandford Parish Council comments, 30 July 2026)
It says it “recognises the important contribution that small, family-style children’s homes make in meeting local need”.
It then points out that the council’s own two supporting documents contradict each other on parking. The Location Assessment says the driveway can take three vehicles. The Operational Management Plan says four. The parish council wants that resolved, and a dimensioned parking and manoeuvring plan produced, before the application is decided.
Its other concerns are the school run and the intensity of use. The applicant proposes a main staff handover at about 10am, which the parish council welcomes, but it says this does not account for other vehicle movements around Winscombe Primary School’s arrival and departure times.
If permission is granted, the parish council asks for conditions:
- occupancy limited to a maximum of three children
- permission tied to this specific children’s home, preventing unrestricted alternative C2 use
- operation in line with the approved Operational Management Plan
- the 10am routine staff handover secured
- the approved parking provision secured for the lifetime of the development
- any material increase in staffing or change to shifts controlled
- routine use of the garden restricted to 8am to 8pm
- the neighbour contact and complaints arrangements retained
What the home would be
Strawberry House would be North Somerset’s second children’s residential home. The property is a six-bedroom detached house with a large rear garden. One of the six bedrooms would become a sensory and wellbeing room, leaving accommodation for up to three children.
The name was chosen by children and young people in care, after the Strawberry Line, the former railway that runs through the village and is now a walking and cycling route. The council intends to plant strawberries in the garden.
A registered manager has already been appointed and is going through onboarding. The council says the home will not operate or take any children until planning permission, refurbishment, staffing and Ofsted registration are all complete.
The bigger picture
The two homes are part of the council’s sufficiency strategy, and the case for them is in the report that had to be corrected. (North Somerset Council, report to Council, 8 September 2026)
North Somerset currently supports 39 children living in residential children’s homes, which is 12% of all its children in care. Because local provision is short, some are placed outside the area, away from their families, schools and support networks. The two new homes would house up to six children between them, close to home.
The first, Haven House, is in Weston-super-Mare. The council describes it only as being about a six-minute walk from the Town Hall, in an established residential community. It will take up to three young people aged 11 to 18, and includes a separate community space, with its own front entrance, for the council’s Family Connections outreach service. Building work is expected to finish by the end of September. The council has asked Ofsted to fast-track registration and hopes for it in autumn or winter.
The report also says six children in residential care now have confirmed plans to move on by autumn 2026, returning to parents, moving to kinship care, or moving to semi-independent accommodation.
Young people in care helped design both homes. They chose the colour scheme, and asked for weekly house meetings on a fixed day, a buddy system for new arrivals, a personalised welcome pack with photographs of staff, and a personalised blanket each child keeps as they move on.
What it means for you
The application has not been decided, and the consultation period closed on 24 July, so new comments are unlikely to carry weight. You can still read every objection and every document on the register entry for 26/P/1291/R3.
Full council meets at 6pm on Tuesday 8 September. Item 10 is the residential homes report, and it is marked “briefing only”, so councillors are being asked to note it rather than vote on anything. The addendum is item 10.1. (Agenda, Council, 8 September 2026)
The addendum makes one point twice: the error “does not in any way predetermine the outcome of the planning application, which will be considered independently and in accordance with the relevant planning process”.
We track what the council is deciding on our North Somerset planning page.
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