PLANS have been submitted for a 60-bed care home, along with new sports pitches, on the edge of York.

Yorkare Homes seeks to demolish the existing but empty Lime Trees Public Medical Centre for the development at 31 Shipton Road, Clifton.

The scheme, with public consultation, was initially announced last November, though the applicants, Yorkare, NHS Property Services and York Sports Club have only just submitted revised plans to City of York Council.

Planning documents says the proposed care home will employ 70-75 staff, with it staffed at all times, using around 24 staff per shift.

Lime Trees was built in the early 20th century and was previously used for child and adolescent mental health services. However, the service relocated to a purpose-built centre in the city, leaving the building empty for over two years.

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If approved, the care home would feature 20 residential care bedrooms and 40 dementia bedrooms, with community rooms, staff rooms and service rooms.

There would be parking for 34 cars, plus bikes; there would be a landscaped garden with pond, and to the north, new playing pitches would be created, and gifted to local sports teams.

Planning documents also say that the design for the scheme has changed due to its Green Belt location, aiming to give it a similar footprint as the existing buildings, so it would not be seen as ‘inappropriate development.’

The application says the adjacent sports club, which has 250 senior members and 350 junior members for rugby, plus 150 for cricket, is constrained in terms of pitch capacity and many pitches are oversubscribed.

Yorkare, the lead applicant and prospective purchaser, seeks to gift 0.56ha of land, just over a third of the site total, for the sports club to create sports pitches, mostly for mini and junior teams.

Similarly, there is a need for the care support that the development would deliver, the application continued, creating jobs on a brownfield site.

The application further concluded: “The proposal will result in a significant unmet need for care home beds, including specialist dementia care with nursing care integrated into the home. “

“The proposal will also provide significant increase in playing field space resulting in increased training and playing time, particularly for youth and women’s rugby on a daily basis, contributing to greater health and wellbeing for the community.”

It added: “The proposal will result in the creation of essential jobs within the care home, construction and supply chain; and sustain the future of the Sports clubs junior and women’s rugby programme.”

Therefore, the scheme, situated in a sustainable location, represented sustainable development, and meeting local and national planning polices, should be approved.