£6m Shrewsbury nursing home plans get go-ahead

Shropshire Council officers have approved the outline application for an 87-bed care home on residential land off Shillingston Drive in Battlefield, Shrewsbury. It is hoped the home will be open by late 2015.

The site is next to land earmarked for potential development of 250 homes by Persimmon Homes which has been fiercely opposed by residents, with more than 150 objections lodged with the local authority.

Developers Benson Bros Limited said the home would create up to 75 full-time and 50 part-time jobs by the time it opened and agents behind the scheme today confirmed that 'several care providers' had already submitted interest in running it.

The home would cater for patients requiring constant nursing care and specialise in care for elderly people suffering from dementia after developers said there was a 'proven need' in the north of the town.

Carl Huntley, managing director of Shrewsbury-based agents Base Architecture, said: "The principle for a nursing home on the site is now established and the scheme is already well developed so in January we will look at taking it forward.

"With our ageing population and a higher proportion of dementia patients there is a definite need for places like this and several providers have already registered their interest."

He added: "There would also be a significant number of new jobs and it would represent investment of up to £6 million."

Jane Strouts, committee member for the Berwick Grange and Battlefield Residents Group, said it broadly welcomed the plans.

"We've always been opposed to the planned housing development due to a variety of serious concerns involving safety, the ecology and access in particular but none of these concerns relate to the nursing home," she said.

"What we would be devastated about is if Shropshire Council used that as an excuse to approve the housing development as to have two of them would be inconceivable."