Care home specialising in dementia care to be built in Basildon
It will provide 24-hour services for frail and elderly people
A 76-care home specialising in dementia care and 24-hour services for frail and elderly people will be built in the Essex green belt.
A detached bungalow in Coxes Farm Road, Billericay, will be demolished to make way for the new facility, which will house people whose care needs have escalated and are unable to live in their own homes.
Basildon Borough Council approved the application by Frontier Estates at a planning committee meeting last night (November 2), despite concerns raised over its “inappropriate” location in the borough’s green belt.
According to a council report, the number of people living with dementia in the borough is set to increase by 70 per cent by 2034.
Speaking on behalf of Frontier Estates, planning agent Adrian Kearley said: “Our research shows that at least four new homes are required to meet the existing needs of the immediate area, let alone the anticipated uplift in future demand.”
Frontier is arguing the provision of social care and a knock-on effect of releasing local housing stock back into the market means its application meets the very special circumstances required for development in the green belt.
However, several people at the meeting further criticised the scheme over its height and design, which they said was not suitable for its rural location.
Great Burstead and South Green Village Councillor Bob Chapman said: “The black facade of the three-storey building at the entrance would create an imposing and dreary outlook, which is overdevelopment in a rural area.”
Committee chair Carole Morris (Con, Wickford North) said: “Yes this is on green belt, but it is also out of keeping due to the design and the bulk of the building, so I’m not in support of it.”
However, the committee nonetheless approved the scheme. Committee member Councillor Kerry Smith (Ind, Nethermayne) said he would rather the building was in a brownfield site, and criticised its design, but said its approval would help free up hospital beds in the borough.
He said: “We have to do our bit to support the provision of healthcare for the residents, because every time a hospital bed is being spoken for by a patient with dementia, that makes the backlogs worse and that affects everybody.”
In addition to the care home, permission was granted for access from Coxes Farm Road, car and cycle parking, landscaping and provision for amenities. According to a council report, the average age of the future residents will be between 85-90-years-old.