Care home could be new school

A FORMER care home in Tokers Green could be converted into a special educational needs facility.

Archway Building Consultancy has applied for permission to change the use of The Maples home for adults with autism into a school for children aged three to 18 years with autism.

It has also applied for planning permission for formalised car parking, a fence around the perimeter of the site and an outdoor play area and canopy.

The Aura Group, established in 2015, would run the new educational facility.

The company has taken on similar projects in other “under-appreciated” buildings across the country.

The Maples opened in 2013 and was run by the Disabilities Trust.

But in 2021 it was rated as “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission and put into special measures.

The inspectors said the home was unsafe, ineffective, not well-led and not responsive.

They said: “People’s care and support was not provided in a safe, clean, well-equipped, well-furnished and well-maintained environment which met people’s sensory and physical needs.”

The Disabilities Trust runs 20 other facilities across the country, including other homes in Berkshire.

At the time of the inspection, chief executive Irene Sobowale said it was taking the need for improvements “extremely seriously”.

South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, is due to make a decision by March 31.