Plans for two new Telford care homes approved

A 69-bedroom care home and 18 apartments has been approved for Shifnal Road, Priorslee, and a 66-care home has been green-lit for Bryce Way, Lawley.

Both developments split opinion on Telford & Wrekin's planning committee, with the main sticking point being parking spaces, but both were ultimately passed.

Councillor Jayne Greenaway spoke on behalf of Priorslee ward councillor Veronica Fletcher, against the Shifnal Road plan, saying it did not fit in with the surrounding street scene, parking was inadequate, emergency vehicle access "barely adequate" and it would create more traffic on an already congested road.

But architect Andrew Khoury told the committee he had been working on the plans for more than a year and had already reduced the number of "extra care" apartments from 33 to 18 and increased the parking spaces from 30 to 35.

"In my opinion this project is the best proposed for the site to date," he said.

Officers agreed that 35 parking spaces was more than the required quota, but committee member Nigel Dugmore said they had not interpreted guidelines correctly.

He said the extra care apartments should not be taken as needing the same as low quota of parking spaces as the care home itself, as the people in the apartments would be more independent and probably have their own cars.

He said allotting spaces for on-site staff only also did not take into account visiting health workers and support staff.

"Quite simply the parking situation hasn't been thought through and it's going to have a detrimental impact on the area," he said.

He put forward a motion to defer the decision for the parking to be looked at again, but it was not carried.

There were similar issues raised with the Bryce Way home, with developers allotting 31 parking spaces which Councillor Dugmore again said was insufficient.

However committee member Leon Murray said both homes were necessary for the area and questioned the wisdom of encouraging ever more car use.

Committee vice chair Chris Turley agreed, saying the building of both homes was a "good news story".

Both were passed, the Bryce Way home with a condition that a pedestrian access path be created so residents did not have to walk through the car park to get to the road.