Care home plan for former industrial site approved

A new care home will be built on a brownfield site in a village, despite concerns over access to healthcare facilities.

West Northamptonshire Council approved plans for a 66-bed residential care home to be built on unused land to the north-east of the High Street, Deanshanger.

The site was historically part of the Elementis works, where red lead and oxide pigments were produced, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Sam Finlay, the agent for LNT Care Developments, said: "The care home application is intended to be very much a local community facility."

The Elementis works occupied a significant portion of the village, most of which has now been redeveloped into residential housing.

This is the last parcel of land covering the former works to be redeveloped.

Anne Thompson, from Deanshanger Parish Council, told the meeting she welcomed the site and its benefits to local care needs, but raised concerns about how future residents would be able to access GP practices and the hospital as there were no direct bus routes.

Finlay said that the care home would look to reach an agreement with the doctors' surgery to visit the home and see residents in one go, or transport people to the practice themselves.

A contribution must be made by the developer to the Bedfordshire, Luton & Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board.

The planning report states this will help meet the cost of reconfiguring the nearby medical centre practice in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, due to the increased population from the residential home.

Plans were unanimously approved by the non-strategic planning committee.

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