Care home could close for flats
Maidstone councillors are being urged to allow the closure of a care home and its conversion to flats, despite a shortage in places for the elderly in the town. Charing Healthcare wants to replace Vale Nursing Home, on the corner of Willington Street and Otterbourne Place, with11 apartments, after adding two extensions.
The company said the layout of the building was making it unviable to run, with access difficulties making it inappropriate for residents with mobility issues.
It has been a care home for 25 years and caters for up to 27 residents, most of which have dementia.
The company says since Covid it had become increasingly difficult to fill its three double rooms as Kent County Council was no longer prepared to allocate clients to shared rooms.
However, a viability report accompanying the application has not provided any detail on occupancy rates.
In Maidstone council’s recently conducted Local Plan Review, its Strategic Housing Market Assessment found there was a need for an additional 1,228 residential care bed spaces in the borough.
Charing Healthcare has three other care homes in Maidstone and said it would work “to ensure a smooth transition for residents to move into other care homes and would allow ample time for this to happen.”
There have been 13 objections from neighbours with many concerned about parking.
The applicants intend to provide 12 spaces, but this falls short of the 16 recommended and will involve building on a grass verge outside the home. The proposal is for six one-bed flats, four two-bed flats and one three-bed, and the council’s planning officers concluded they were unlikely to be occupied by families with children. The application proposes no affordable housing, contrary to the council’s Local Plan policy which requires some affordable homes on every site providing more than 10 dwellings.
Officers say evidence had been provided showing that with affordable housing the scheme would not turn an acceptable level of profit. Officers are recommending the proposal is approved at a meeting today (Thursday).