'Residential care farm' plan
A "residential care farm" providing respite care for children with learning disabilities could open in Shropshire under new plans revealed today.
The owners of Hungerdale Farm in Benthall, between Much Wenlock and Telford, want to convert a farmhouse and barn in to accommodation that will provide respite care for up to six special needs children at a time.
Children will live on the farm for short periods of time and they will receive training to enable them to grow vegetables and fruit and work with the farm's inhabitants which include sheep, rare breed pigs and Icelandic horses under the plans.
Day placements are set to start this autumn on the farm - which is part of Tickwood Farm.
But planning permission is needed to create the accommodation necessary to provide respite care and plans for this have been submitted to Bridgnorth District Council.
Edward Dugdale is pioneering the scheme - called The Tickwood Project - with his wife Anna, who owns Hungerdale Farm and today said there was a shortage of respite accommodation in Shropshire.
He claimed there were only nine respite beds for children with learning disabilities in the county but 760 Shropshire children were registered with a disability.
Under the plans for Hungerdale Farm, training would be provided for children staying on the farm by The Greenwood Centre and Arthur Rank Training charities.
It is hoped the accommodation would be run by a charity such as Barnardos or the National Children's Home.
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