Revised housing bid for elderly at former Wem care home

A proposal to change the site of the former Westlands Care Home in Wem into 36 homes, instead of 52, was revealed at a consultation event yesterday.

Councillors and residents visited the drop-in session held at Edinburgh House to view the plans and give their opinions.

Godfrey Jenkins, chairman of Wem Senior Club, said: "I was very concerned when the care home went but these new plans look OK to me.

"I was concerned with the two and three-storey properties but now they are only doing two-storey and installing a lift in those so I don't see an issue.

"It is nice to see the site being redeveloped."

The new plans include 16 bungalows, 11 one-bedroom apartments and nine two-bedroom apartments, which will have winter gardens.

The scheme has been designed around a central communal garden and the majority of the bungalows will have a small private space.

The main access to the site will continue to be from Station Road. A secondary access will be from Ranford Way and a small amount of parking will be available that end.

Matthew Hill, head of development at Shropshire Housing Group, said: "Before we had our first consultation we thought the site could accommodate 52 homes.

"We then held a consultation event in October last year and used to information to adapt our plans.

"Lots of people said they liked the ideas but they were worried about the number of units, vehicle movement and height of apartments.

"We looked at all of that and produced a new scheme which is less dense.

"There are no three-storey buildings now.

"We will now apply for planning permission and hope to be on site in the autumn.

"We would like to complete the project by December 2017."

Westlands Care Home, which was run by Coverage Care Services, closed in March after managers revealed it had been losing £25,000 a year over the last five years.

Bosses at the time said there was lack of demand for care homes but instead for extra-care housing and nursing homes.

The new plans could see elderly people living independently in one and two-bedroom apartments with the option to access services they want – including cleaning or support workers – which would let them tailor their care, rather than the full services offered in care homes or extra care housing.