A bid to convert a former care home into student flats has been refused.

Plans to redevelop the Hallgarth care home failed to reach an advanced stage after planning officers rejected the proposal. 

Applicant Unity Living proposed redeveloping the Durham site into 69 apartments across three floors.

The care home shut after owners Four Seasons Health Care announced its closure back in June. At the time the GMB Union, which represented workers there, said it was a “cold-blooded decision based on profit”.

Four Seasons said the closure of Hallgarth Care Home in Durham had been a ‘difficult decision’ but did not comment on the future of the building.

All residents were moved out of the home within a month and plans were then submitted for the student apartments. 

The refusal comes amid concerns that there are more students than permanent residents in Durham City, with any further developments exacerbating the problem and causing more residents to leave the area. 

Concerns over the application included the loss of “an essential community asset”, the lack of need for student accommodation, and an unbalanced neighbourhood. 

Locals believe the building would be better used as supported living accommodation for vulnerable residents. 

The concerns were echoed by Labour MP for Durham City, Mary Kelly Foy, who questioned the need for more student housing. 

It comes amid a student housing crisis in the city which last year saw students queue for hours to sign for rentals almost a year in advance.

Yet planning officers at Durham County Council said the proposal did not adhere to several planning policies. A report said the site would “further unbalance the area and have a detrimental impact upon community cohesion”. 

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It added that it would “further adversely affect the amenity of existing residents within the local area from increased noise and disturbance. 

A spokesman from Unity Living said: “We are naturally disappointed at the decision of Durham County Council to refuse planning permission for a development that would deliver high quality, modern accommodation to meet the current and future needs of students within the city through the re-use of a vacant building occupying a central location relative to the university and city centre, with robust management arrangements in place to minimise impacts on any neighbouring residents. 

“An approval would have also helped reduce the pressure on family housing stock to accommodate student housing needs.”