Decision due on new care home

5:10pm Tuesday 7th October 2008

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A 70-BEDROOM care home is set to be built on land in west York after City of York Council planning officers recommended it for approval.

The two-storey nursing home – which could create about 60 jobs – will be constructed near Centurion Office Park, at Tribune Way, in Clifton Moor, if councillors give a planning application for permission to carry out the development the green light.

They are due to decide at a planning committee meeting on Thursday whether to give the application, which has been made by a Mr Hargreaves, the go-ahead.

The development would have 17 car parking spaces for staff and visitors, and a pedestrian link to Hornbeam Close. It would be located to the south of the office park, between an existing office unit and the existing residential development that is accessed off Water Lane.

A council report on the application says: “The two-storey element of the care home has been designed in a horseshoe style, with a single-storey element connecting up the two wings to create an enclosed outdoor courtyard to be used by residents of the care home.”

Vehicular access would be via Tribune Way, off Clifton Moor Gate.

The council has received six letters of objection to the scheme from local residents. In an email to the authority, one said: “A building of such a size in such close proximity to the small detached houses of Hornbeam Close and Thorntree Grove is certain to be oppressive and lead to the properties being less desirable to purchase. It is not desirable for the nursing home to have pedestrian access to Hornbeam Close due to the number of strangers who will be walking around our quiet estate which frequently has young children playing outside.”

But the council report says: “The care home is set approximately eight metres off the shared boundary with 9 and 11 Hornbeam Close and 8 and 10 Thorntree Grove. This is considered a reasonable separation distance and it is not considered that the care home would appear dominant or overbearing at this distance.”

A statement accompanying the plans says the pedestrian access would not be used by staff or for deliveries. It says it is intended that the access would be gated. The statement says: “The gated access will be controlled by means of a digi-pad locking mechanism which residents and their relatives will be permitted to use.” Outline planning permission for a care home on the site was given in January.

Meanwhile, planning officers at the council have also recommended for approval a planning application by Wellburn Care Ltd, which seeks permission for a first and two-storey rear extension and a rear conservatory at Rosevale Private Residential Home, in The Village, Wigginton, York.