Inspector; Appeal Decision““There are benefits in favour of the Appeal. Most significant of these is the provision of Housing with Care and a Care Home. The council agree there is a significant level of need for Housing with Care in the Borough. There is also an agreed need for care home bed spaces. ….The need to provide housing for older people nationally is critical as set out in Planning Practice Guidance. There is no doubt that there is a clear and pressing need for this type of development in Spelthorne…” ”
In June 2023 Inspired Villages sought (by way of hybrid planning application) consent for the development of an Integrated Retirement Community on a Green Belt site in Sunbury-on-Thames. The proposal included detailed planning for 38 Extra Care and 28 Close Care Units with onsite village centre in addition to outline planning for a care home (up to 60 beds) and up to 98 further Extra Care units. Refused by Spelthorne Borough Council in October 2023, the applicant appealed by way of Inquiry.
It was at the point of appeal that Inspired Villages instructed Nigel Newton Taylor, a Director of HPC, to provide Expert Witness Evidence (written and oral) relating to the level of need across the Borough for the care home element of the proposal. Successfully identifying a need not only through his own assessment but through analysis of Borough and County local authority strategic documentation, the ultimate question was not so much whether a need existed but how significant the level of need appeared.
The appeal was allowed by virtue of Decision dated 22nd November 2024 with the Inspector affording ‘very substantial weight’ to the provision of Housing with Care and the Care Home.
