New site for care facility found after campaign

Sunderland councillors Michael Hartnack and Simon Ayre join parents Emma, Pam and Tracy

Disabled children who faced having "nowhere else to go" after the loss of a city's only respite care facility will be looked after at a new venue, a local authority says.

Sunderland City Council said it would use £1.7m to buy and adapt a replacement building in East Rainton after talks to keep short breaks at Grace House failed.

The authority and the charity which was contracted to provide respite care at the home were unable to reach an agreement over costs and the council's service ended there last month.

Parents told the BBC that news of the new base was "welcome" but that they wanted the development to be opened at the "earliest opportunity".

Together for Children (TfC), which runs children's services on behalf of the Labour-run council, said an application for planning permission had been submitted.

Proposals show Red Gables, a five-bedroom home, would be repurposed to provide overnight respite care and therapy with a sensory room among its features.

Sunderland City Council has purchased the property in East Rainton

Councillor Linda Williams, cabinet member for children, learning and skills, described Red Gables as an "ideal property".

She said: "As we go through this planning process, we’ve outlined how we want to make it a homely and outdoor space providing breaks."

It comes after a campaign to maintain respite care - designed to relieve parents of caring duties and enable them to recuperate - on Wearside was launched by parents.

Pam Mann had launched a campaign to save the respite service from closure

Several protests took place outside the authority's City Hall headquarters, while more than 1,500 people signed a petition.

Former Conservative councillor Pam Mann, who launched the campaign, said: "It is great and we are very happy.

"It is this campaign and the local people who have made it happen and we are grateful for that."

However, she said that the "onus is on the council" to ensure families can receive "like-for-like" care.

Councillor Paul Edgeworth, leader of Wearside Liberal Democrats, said the announcement was "better late than never for the disabled children and their families who have faced unimaginable disruption, upheaval and frustration at the withdrawal".

He urged the authority to "get the new facility up and running as quickly as possible so young people can benefit from short breaks again" and called for it to "involve families every step of the way".

TfC chief executive Jill Colbert said the organisation had started "speaking with families" in an effort to "create a nurturing environment".

The plans are due to be decided at a later date.