Plans to demolish a single storey 29-bed care home in Church Lawton and replace it with A 60 bed, 3-storey replacement facility were refused at the Southern Planning Committee meeting last week.
The troubled care home was closed suddenly in 2016 ‘due to the operation becoming financially unviable, largely because of its small scale’.
The new application proposed to bulldoze the site and build a much larger, three-storey care home which would accommodate 60 people. The development would also include parking for approximately 29 vehicles and garden space.
Local residents had written in to express concerns about the higher and extended building In terms of over-massing on the site which is lower than the properties the surround the site. The new building would be too tall and would overshadow their homes, blocking out sunlight.
Neighbours were also concerned about traffic and the impact on pedestrian safety, particularly given the lack of public transport serving the road.
Cllr Liz Wardlaw (Ward Councillor Odd Rode) stated; “As it stands, this proposal is the equivalent of dropping a Premier Inn onto the lawn of Tatton Park”.
”The Plans submitted in no way reflect the enormity of this building. This colossal mass will rise up from a site where there was once a single storey structure, to take light, amenity and privacy from the dwellings nestled in a rural enclave..” “...the road is busy, narrow and without pedestrian access. There are no buses, shops and no church.”
This view was supported by Cllr Mike Benson (Sandbach) who said; “I believe this is likely to be an overbearing building”.
The Application was REFUSED by 8 Committee Members (3 abstained and one voted for the proposal).
REFERENCES
http://planning.cheshireeast.gov.uk/applicationdetails.aspx?pr=19/3667C…
