Family's wait for adapted bungalow may soon be over

Helen Blackburn and Alistair Howe, from Frosterley, are hoping that plans for a purpose-built bungalow will be given the go-ahead when councillors meet next Thursday.

The couple, who established the Weardale charity Independence 4 Disability, have two young disabled boys who are outgrowing their small terraced home in the Dales village.

Five-year-old Jake, the inspiration behind the charity, suffers from cerebral palsy, is spastic, quadriplegic, epileptic and registered blind.

His brother James, eight, has autism, epilepsy and learning difficulties.

Last year, they were offered a lifeline when members of Wear Valley Council's central resources committee allocated a plot of land at Lynndale, Wolsingham, to build a bungalow which would be adapted for the family's needs.

Now the home, which will be built by Three Rivers Housing, is to be discussed by Wear Valley District Council's development control committee.

Planning officers have recommended that the plans be approved.

If councillors agree, the family could be in their four-bedroomed home by summer.

Miss Blackburn said the bungalow would give the family a new lease of life and that family and friends were all keeping their fingers crossed.

She said: "We are all on tenterhooks at the minute. This is a really big thing for us. It is going to change our lives so much for the better."

She and Mr Howe are having to carry Jake up and downstairs to bed and to the bathroom and a survey of the property proved that it would be too costly to adapt it for the family's needs.

She said: "Jake will be six this year and it is getting more and more difficult to carry him about.

"Our lives hinge on this decision. If this wasn't a possibility for us I really don't know what we would be looking at.

"We have had a lot of support from the local council and Three Rivers and the local community have been fantastic. We hope that this is going to be the start of a better life."