Historic care home forced to remove car parking area
A nursing home has been given four months to remove a car parking area it laid without permission, after planners ruled it harmed the appearance of the historic building.
The Priory Nursing and Residential Home, in Wellington, operates in a former stately home built in the 19th century.
In February, home director Steven Singh applied for retrospective permission for 11 new tarmacked parking spaces, a retaining wall and 14 lamp posts, stating that the work at the one-acre site had already begun.
Telford & Wrekin Council planning officers refused the application, pointing out that the home was housed in a registered “Building of Local Interest” and calling the spaces and posts “visual clutter”.
An enforcement notice, issued on the same day, gives an August 31 deadline to remove the new parking space and three lamp posts.
A design statement, submitted by Zoran Pancic of Dudley-based Design to Build on behalf of Mr Singh, described the application as “urgent” to “enable the home to meet new government Covid-19 guidelines” and ensure resident, visitor and staff safety.
A separate heritage statement said: “As the nursing home is bound by the boundary wall, only the lampposts will be visible from the street scene and, therefore, the proposal will not be detrimental to the character and appearance of the surrounding area.”
Application documents say the home previously had 18 parking spaces and the expansion would add 11 more, including two disabled bays, to the left of its access driveway off Spring Hill. In a report justifying their refusal, planning officers say: “
It is considered that the proposed addition of 11 car parking spaces is unacceptable in both siting and design.
“Any designated parking spaces and visual clutter at the front of The Priory causes great harm to the setting of the building of local interest.”
A council notice, signed by principal enforcement officer David Jones, orders the home to take actions including removing the tarmacked area and refilling it with clean topsoil and removing three lamp posts to the west of the main building.
The notice takes effect on May 31 with a three-month deadline after that.
