Neighbours oppose care home plan

May 5 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

NEIGHBOURS are fighting plans to build a 72-bed care home for the elderly next to a Northumberland hospital which has been earmarked for closure.

People in Morpeth have submitted 10 letters of objection to the proposed residential home on land next to the town’s ageing cottage hospital, claiming that they will suffer from loss of privacy and light because of the size of the new building.

The families in nearby Rectory Park and Rectory Dene are opposing the development for the second time in a few months, after a previous bid was rejected by Castle Morpeth Council.

Next week borough councillors will be recommended by officers to refuse planning permission for a revised application by Morpeth Properties (IOM) Ltd on the grounds that the previous objections to the scheme have not been overcome.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is currently finalising plans for healthcare in Morpeth following a lengthy review of the future of the 80-bed Cottage Hospital. It is likely to be closed with a new NHS centre, rehabilitation beds and end-of-life care provided elsewhere in Morpeth, and the transfer of beds and some other services to Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington.

Morpeth Properties wants to build the 72-bed care home on land next to the existing hospital, but the scheme has also been opposed by Morpeth Town Council which says it is an over-development of the site and does not include sufficient parking provision.

A report to borough councillors next week says the revised application reduces the number of second floor windows on the three-storey home from 13 to 7, but makes no increase in parking spaces.

It says there are still major concerns that people living in properties in Rectory Park, which are set at a lower level than the proposed new building, will suffer from visual intrusion and a loss of sunlight and daylight.

There are also concerns over road safety.

The officers’ report says: “It is considered that all of the three refusal reasons for the previous application have not been overcome by the current proposals in the new application, and that the mass of the building and impact on Rectory Park, together with the highways impact remain unacceptable.”

An appeal has been lodged over the refusal of the first planning application and a decision on that appeal is likely to come later in the year.