£65million grant approved for new secure children’s home in Sleaford

Scheduled to be built on land off Bonemill Lane, the facility would provide secure spaces for 28 children and be an upgrade on the existing 12-bed site in Sleaford.

The plans were first approved by Lincolnshire County Councillors last year, due to it meeting national and local demand for extra spaces within children’s criminal justice and welfare placements.

It will replace the existing 12-bed Sleaford site that has been in operation since 1997, but as the need for more bed space increased in recent years, so did the need for a larger, more modern unit.

The Department for Education (DfE) is “fully committed” to the delivery of this project, and has offered a capital funding grant of up to £63.6 million to enable its construction.

Some £6 million has already been allocated for extensive design works on the new centre, and a decision on the remaining funding is due at the end of July, but councillors are confident it will be secured.

It has been described as a “huge amount of money for the county” that will enable services for children in the criminal justice system or suffering from health issues to continue in Sleaford for the next few decades.

Lincolnshire County Council’s Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee unanimously approved the recommendation to support this proposal, and have passed this support onto the authority’s executive committee.

Coun Patricia Bradwell said she felt it would make a “tremendous difference” and was impressed with the “state of the art” design ambitions for the proposed site.

The 22-acre site on Bonemill Lane would house administrative facilities, kitchen and dining areas, educational and teaching spaces, sports facilities, as well as secured outdoor courtyards.

As well as this, it would have a new service road, a car park, a surface water attenuation pond, landscaped areas, renewable energy provision, and a battery store.

Not only would it preserve jobs from the existing Rookery Lane site, but it could also generate even more employment opportunities in future for the local area, according to the authority.

During a debate on the item, council officers confirmed that the DfE would offer year-on-year funding opportunities to help with the maintenance and running of the site, and that any difference in costs would also be covered.

Matthew Stapleton, head of capital reform and education sufficiency at the county council, said it will help place children in and around the Lincolnshire area “much closer to home” and address a national issue of people being moved hundreds of miles away from their homes due to a lack of bed space.

It is the executive that will ultimately decide the fate of the site and the earmarked Department for Education investment, at an upcoming meeting in September.

If approved, construction can begin “almost immediately thereafter” and will take approximately two years to complete — with a view to opening the site in early 2027.