Retirement home plan in world heritage site
DECISION TO BE MADE ON 60-BED SCHEME IN BELPER
PLANS for a 60-bed “extra care” retirement home have been submitted to Amber Valley Borough Council.
A decision will be made on the scheme, put forward by Yourlife Management Services Ltd, in the next few months.
If approved, the facility will sit directly opposite the under-construction 40-bed care home and library being pushed forward by Derbyshire County Council on the former Thorntons factory site in Derwent Street, Belper. That scheme is set to cost £18.8 million.
It will eventually be joined by a new £6 million health centre, to take on some of the facilities which Babington Hospital currently provides, under plans from Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust.
The proposed brownfield site opposite the factory is disused and lies next to the Derwent Street car park. In 2015, councillors approved plans from Spenhill Developments Ltd to build 107 houses on the site and adjoining car park, but this project has not come forward.
The applicants state that the 60-bed “extra care” facility will pro- vide “significantly more on-site care provision and communal facilities than traditional sheltered accommodation for the elderly to support an older and more frail population”.
It says that residents will be able to buy care packages to suit their needs as these change over time rather than pay the fixed costs of a nursing or residential care home.
Yourlife says that consideration has been given to the site’s placement in the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. Access would be off the existing entrance from Derwent Street.
Yourlife says the equivalent of 14 full-time jobs would be created as a
result of the development. Staff will provide 24-hour care for the residents.
The site would also contain a lounge and a restaurant which would provide meals every day of the year.
There will also be a function room where guests may hold private parties for friends and relatives, along with a communal laundry room and a guest suite where visitors can stay. The home will have a minimum age restriction of 70.
It aims to “promote independence and facilitate older people continuing to lead healthy and active lives”.
Alongside this will be “necessary levels of oversight help, care and assistance immediately available to residents”.
A statement from the applicants reads: “The site lies within a sustainable location within the centre of Belper. The development will assist in the ongoing regeneration of the Derwent Street area and has been demonstrated to not have an adverse impact upon the significance of the World Heritage Site or Conservation Area, and be acceptable in highway terms.”