42 jobs as part of plan for care home in town

A FORMER office block is set to be knocked down and replaced with a care home for the elderly – if plans get the go ahead.

LNT Care Developments has lodged plans to build the 66-bed complex on land off Buxton Road in Leek.

More than 40 jobs would be created by the proposal – which would see the existing Eaton House office block demolished.

The existing car park would be reduced in size to include 20 car spaces, 10 cycle spaces and two disabled spaces – as well as an ambulance and taxi dropoff.

LNT Care Developments, which runs care homes across Yorkshire, the Midlands and the South of England, said the site presented an ‘excellent opportunity’ for a new care home.

A spokesman said: “LNT Construction has considerable experience in the development of care homes, having constructed numerous care homes for their sister company Ideal Care Homes and other operators across the UK.

“The facility will be fully compliant with the National Care Standards Act 2000; providing single-room accommodation, with en-suite facilities and a more than suitable ratio of communal/recreational space per resident together with level/ amenable access throughout.

“The proposed care home would provide a character and form of development that should positively enhance the character of the site and the wider surrounding area, whilst also offering an important local community service.

“The development would also have a positive impact within the area by improving employment opportunities, both during construction and in the longer-term operation of the care home.”

A total of 42 jobs would be created if the plans go ahead – with around 15 members of staff on the site at any one time, and around one care per seven bed spaces.

The statement lodged along with the application added the proposal would serve the local community.

It said: “The proposed development would be very much a local community facility.

“Residents to the home would be expected to emanate from an area no more than three miles from the site or be associated with families/relatives that reside within this same catchment.

“The majority of the jobs created at the care home would also be expected to be filled by suitable candidates from the same local area.”

A public consultation on the plans is in place until December 19.

Planners at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council are set to make a decision on the application by February next year.