Nursery and care home planned next to Thirsk open fields

Country Court Care, which runs more than 30 care homes nationwide, has applied to Hambleton District Council to build on the edge of the Sowerby Gateway estate which was granted outline permission in 2012.

Amid significant local opposition over the scale of the plan, permission was approved for more than 900 homes, business developments, a hotel, an extra-care facility, a medical centre, a primary school, community land and playing pitches, allotments and car parking, but neither a care home or a nursery were identified to be provided.

Documents submitted to the authority state the proposed development would feature buildings laid out to “make an efficient use of the site”, designed to “maximise its footprint”.

The application states: “The care home building will be a three-storey structure, with a modern appearance and bold design features, and the nursery will be a subservient, two-storey structure in a complementary design.”

The developers have forecast the development would create 60 jobs, which they say would be “great for the local economy and for job prospects within the area”.

They added roads in the area would be capable of coping with a predicted small increase in traffic and that the scale, height and massing, of the buildings would relate well to the existing built-form within the area, which includes a supermarket.

While the application states the proposed site borders open fields to the south and open, undeveloped land to the east, the developers state the scheme would “not have any detrimental impact on the overall pattern of development within this part of the town or any particular view, vista or landmark”.

It states: “The applicants are experienced care home operators and are fully aware of the increasing need for care home places in the towns and villages within which they have premises. The increasing need for such facilities, which is also brought on by a large increase in population in this location, also brings with it a desire for modern, purpose-built development over the well-established format of the conversion of larger and older properties.

The proposed development will not result in any issues of noise, proximity, overlooking, or loss of residential amenity to any residential properties.”

Sowerby councillor and leader of Hambleton council, Mark Robson said the site was on land previously identified and approved for commercial development rather than trees and hedgerows, as the planning documents appear to suggest.

He said: “Whatever comes there has got to be good for the economy. Things there were slow to develop at the beginning, but it has moved on and it is delivering what the original plan was.”