THE number of young people in care living in accommodation outside of Newport could be reduced with the purchase of a new children’s residential home.

Newport council’s cabinet has set aside £1.5 million to help return looked-after children currently in out-of-county placements to the city.

Such placements are the most expensive type of accommodation for children in care, and the outcomes for most are ‘poor’, a council report says.

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And now the authority has identified a six-bedroom detached house, along with a portion of land, in Langstone, Newport, as being suitable for a children’s home.

The property could accommodate four children and would also have one staff bedroom.

“Houses such as this have been rarely available and those that have been previously identified as suitable have sold swiftly,” a council report says.

“Agreement is needed to proceed with the purchase in order that the home can become operational as a children’s home within this calendar year.”

Costs for the house are estimated at around £1.2 million, including £725,000 for purchase of the property and land, £395,000 for essential maintenance and refurbishment, £56,000 for land transaction costs and £45,000 for other building costs.

The council is expecting to receive £725,000 from the Welsh Government’s Integrated Care Fund for the project, with a further application for maintenance and conversion costs also being made.

At this stage though, all costs above the initial £725,000 will be funded from the council’s budget.

Last year out-of-county placements cost the authority £4.3 million, contributing to an overspend in children’s services of £3.446 million against a budget of £22.405 million.

A report says the proposal is “key to children’s services being able to offer high quality placements for looked after children in Newport.”

“It is a positive step to ensure better care for children,” it adds.

“Whilst it is courageous in terms of being a large undertaking with a degree of risk the planning and preparation mitigates the risk.”

Since 2016, Newport has seen a “steady rise” in the number of children placed in out-of-county placements.

Latest figures show there were 28 as of May this year, compared to an average of 21 over the last three years.

The proposal to purchase the home is expected to be approved as a joint cabinet member decision next Tuesday, November 5.