A passionate speaker broke down repeatedly in tears as she appealed to Solihull councillors to refuse a children's home in a Solihull hamlet.

Public speakers at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council's (SMBC) planning meeting typically have three minutes to give their views but chairman Cllr Bob Grinsell said he had been generous in giving Janet Bowers additional time after she became upset.

The resident was ultimately left disappointed as committee members went on to give the scheme at the home in Daytona Drive the go-ahead at the meeting held on September 9.

In a passionate appeal to planners she said: "Good evening councillors, I'm speaking on behalf of residents of Daytona Drive and the wider Millson's Wood.

"42 letters of objection from 24 separate addresses sit in your papers tonight against one single letter of support.

"This community has told you this development will change where we live.

"The officers' entire case rests on one comparison, 79 Buryfield Road.

"Three times in her report on character, amenity and highway safety she reaches for the same line.

"Because the two schemes are similar they are the same and the same conclusion should follow.

"But Buryfield Road is a classified through road with two traffic lanes carrying a regular bus service lined with substantial detached houses, set behind private driveways and integral garages, in one of Solihull's most sought after locations close to local amenities and schools.

"Daytona Drive has none of those.

"It is a narrow cul-de-sac in a single use estate with no bus route, no shops and a house that has already lost its garage to a bicycle store leaving two spaces for a scheme whose own management plan admits it will need three staff on site for most of the working day.

"An inspector's judgment on a completely different kind of road tells you nothing about what will actually happen on our road.

"Set Buryfield Road aside and the rest of this application falls apart on its own terms.

"The parking calculation only works if every member of staff cycles and in any case the driveway is too small to fit a car on without it hanging off.

"The comings and goings table leaves out the therapy sessions that the applicant's own management plan admits will happen on site.

"The design statement promises no external changes in the same document that proposes a gated entrance and CCTV, and nowhere in the application is there a single word about the fact this house sits close to Millson's Wood which is a risk factor mentioned before in other applications – that the person in the house may go missing and get lost in.

"Every one of you here today represents a street somewhere in this borough that looks like ours, not like Buryfield Road.

"Before you vote tonight, picture the street and ask whether you'd accept this same reasoning being applied to it.

"On that basis we are asking you to refuse."