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Coventry councillors have given their support to plans for a secure children's home to be established in Birmingham , with the city council being one of 14 local authorities backing the scheme. Cabinet members cast their votes in favour of the business case for the 20-bed West Midlands Safe Centre, which will receive funding from the Department for Education (DfE). At this week's cabinet meeting of Coventry City Council on Tuesday, Sukriti Sen, director of children's and education services, voiced her support for building the centre in Gravelly Hill on the site of a former children's home, stating it was the right move for the region which, she added, had been waiting over a decade for such a facility. READ MORE: Midlands Reform council 'pauses' home-to-school transport consultation She stated: "We haven't had a secure provision for children who need to be away and in an environment where they can have a combination of education and psychological support. "On any one day in the country there are 50 children waiting for secure provision and they often end up in very costly unregulated homes." While discussions regarding the finances were conducted in a private session, Councillor Jackie Gardiner emphasised the importance of having the right individuals making crucial decisions about the centre's operation. "It is going to be really important that somebody with a business brain is going to be involved with running this because it needs to be self-funding and sustainable," she said. "The notion that a local authority will have the business head over all this I find a little worrying particularly if it is going to be Birmingham. We need people who are a bit more hard-nosed." Birmingham City Council declared itself effectively bankrupt in 2023 but Angela Whittrick, Coventry City Council's strategic lead on corporate parenting and sufficiency, explained it would be one of the other local authorities who would take on that role. She said: "There will be a commissioning local authority who will, in effect, be responsible for the business element – quality standards, costs and business. "It will be run collaboratively across all the local authorities but one takes the lead. "It cannot be Birmingham if they take on the running of the provision. "At a later stage, a local authority will step forward to take on that commissioning role and that will be like managing a contract, monitoring all the finances. "What is unique with this is the collaboration of the 14 local authorities and the backing of the DfE in relation to the build costs." In his closing remarks, Cllr Jim O'Boyle stated: "This means there will be a facility that will be costed which means children, who end up in the position whereby the only place for them for their safety and the safety of others is a secure unit, will be safe. "And overall, we are not at the behest of any potential private support that could cost us a lot more going forward." Applications were lodged with Birmingham City Council in June, with final designs expected to be finalised by year's end. Contracts are scheduled to be signed in May next year. The plan, submitted by Birmingham Children's Trust, is to demolish the Kingsmere and Earlswood buildings, three in total, at the site to replace them with a purpose-built two-storey building. This would have 20 bedrooms, all en suite where local authorities can place children aged 10 to 17 ‘to keep them safe’. The site will also have learning rooms, vocation rooms, health rooms, soace for physical actities including a sports building, with an indoor court and changing facilities, and a MUGA (Multi Use games Area) outside. The site would also have administration facilities, a terrace for staff and space for visitors and families. The current 30-space car park would be doubled to 60 spaces, with 10 for electric vehicles and the potential for 30. The site is 300 metres from Gravelly Hill Station and on bus routes to Birmingham city centre . The application documents say the emphasis will be to prioritise ‘well-being, therapy and education’.
