Plans to turn care home into flats are set to be rejected

PLANS to turn a derelict care home into flats and build homes on its grounds are set to be rejected. The scheme, from Tenergy Highfield House Ltd, aims to redevelop the former 37-bed Highfield House Nursing Home site off Clifton Road, Ashbourne, opposite St Oswald’s Hospital.

If approved, the scheme would involve converting the former care home into eight two-bed flats and two one-bed flats and building three three-bed homes, four four-bed homes and one five-bed home in the grounds.

A central communal garden would be created and a link extension to the main home, which closed in 2015, would be demolished.

Derbyshire Dales District

Council planning officials have recommended that the scheme be rejected at a meeting on Tuesday, March 12, with councillors making the final decision.

A report prepared for that meeting details that the former care home has widespread dry rot and damage caused by vandalism and has been boarded up to prevent further harm.

Ashbourne Town Council has objected to the scheme due to the lack of affordable housing or money to invest in other low-cost homes in the area. It also feels there is insufficient parking and there may not be enough space for bin collection vehicles, saying the authority would like to see the site developed but feels the plan “is not quite right at this time”.

Derbyshire County Council’s highways team says the current layout would mean it is “unlikely” the authority would adopt the roads, meaning upkeep would default back to the prospective homeowners. They say there is enough room for bin collection vehicles but feel parking may not be sufficient.

District council officials say that the developer found providing affordable homes on site was not viable but money would be provided, if the scheme is approved, for affordable housing in the local area.

Council officials, working with independent consultants, found that the scheme would be able to provide three affordable homes two affordable rented flats and one shared ownership home.

They wrote: “Extensive and protected negotiations have been undertaken with the applicant in relation to this principle issue with no suitable agreement reached, therefore the view was taken that the requirement to engage in a positive and proactive manner had been undertaken without any resolution and as such a decision should be made thereby allowing the applicant to exercise their right to appeal.”

They write further: “The proposed development is fundamentally flawed in that no affordable housing or contribution in lieu of provision is considered viable by the applicant, whilst the council’s advisor considers that the scheme would be viable with the provision of 3 affordable dwellings.”

A report in the developer’s application details that the former care home site was advertised for sale for £850,000 in the summer of 2022.