Plans for 50-bed care home
Concern over Kingsclere site that was earmarked for houses by the parish council
PLANS have been submitted for a 50-bedroom care home on a site originally earmarked for houses in Kingsclere.
Development company Frontier Estates has put forward the plans for the care home on land between Fawconer Road and the A339.
The scheme – provisionally unveiled earlier this year – attracted the anger of Kingsclere Parish Council, which had allocated housing for the site three years ago when it commissioned its neighbourhood development plan.
The site had outline planning permission approved for 13 homes – however, the land was subsequently purchased by Frontier Estates, which has now proposed the care home instead.
Access would be from George Street, with the care home – a two-storey building – in the centre of the site, surrounded by four landscaped gardens.
Frontier Estates says although the site has been allocated for housing by the parish council, as Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is unable to demonstrate a five-year housing and land supply, the “site allocation is not considered to be ‘up-to-date’”.
It adds that the care home would contribute to the housing supply, “providing the equivalent of 27 dwellings at the site”.
A planning statement prepared by the company says the care home will “cater for a range of care needs including end of life, nursing and specialist dementia care”.
It points to a growing elderly population in the borough, as well as a current undersupply of care home beds.
It continues: “It is widely accepted that there is an increased need for purpose-built care accommodation for the elderly across the country.
“The analysis demonstrates that there is a significant and immediate need for care home accommodation in the catchment area.
“A wide range of care and accommodation options will be necessary in the coming years, to provide for the needs of those who require support.
“Such options will serve to mitigate the impact on social services budgets and provide choice to those who fund their own care.”
The provisional plans were met with disdain when they were discussed by the parish council in August.
Council chairman John Sawyer said: “We are very, very concerned that we should be building moderately-priced and affordable homes for local people.
“The planning panel met with representatives of Frontier Estates, and we were somewhat, I think it would be true to say, dismayed by the proposal.
“On the one hand, mathematically, it would do us well, because, apparently, a 50-bed care home counts as 25 housing units, against that total of 50 houses that we are required to put forward.
“It doesn’t work in terms of the reality of what we want.
“There are people who are in favour of it, but, generally speaking, I think a lot of people are concerned.”
The plans will now go to the borough council for consideration.
To view the plans, head to the council’s planning portal and enter the reference 21/02814/FUL.
We are very, very concerned that we should be building moderatelypriced and affordable homes for local people