Development at former children's home in Wick
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An application has been lodged with Highland Council regarding developments at the former children's care home in Wick called Avonlea.
The local authority run care home closed just before Christmas in December 2022 after the council had been served with an improvement notice by the Care Inspectorate on November 28. The council was given two weeks to make "significant improvement in provision of the service" or its registration of the facility would be cancelled.
Avonlea had five bedrooms for its children in care and used a biomass boiler to heat the facility. It was built on the site of an allotment, next to the former education offices in Rhind House, and the full cost was revealed as £1.2 million when completed in 2014.
The building is on West Banks Avenue and has parking space for eight vehicles. According to the application under consideration, Highland Council intends to make "internal and external alterations to change the building from a Children's Unit to an Educational Facility". It further states that the building will be an "Appendix to Wick High School".
