Plans for 66-bed care home with cinema, cafés and hairdresser's in Barton Hill Drive, Sheppey
Published: 05:00, 20 March 2023
Updated: 12:21, 20 March 2023
A 66-bed care home with a cinema, cafés and library could be built, providing "much-needed" accommodation for older folk in Kent.
If given the green light, the residential home would be erected on land west of Barton Hill Drive, Minster on the Isle of Sheppey.
LNT Care Developments is behind the project – a firm which has built more than 200 care homes since 2005.
Proposals include a three-storey brick building with 25 parking spaces, including two disability bays, six electric vehicle spots and eight cycle spaces.
A total of 62 jobs, including 40 full-time and 22 part-time, would be created as a result.
The complex will be made up of “high quality” single rooms with en-suites and have a cinema, cafés, bars, dining rooms, and family rooms.
If approved, there will also be a library, garden room and hairdresser’s.
Planning documents reveal the care home would provide general support for elderly people and care for those with dementia. It is hoped it will be occupied and staffed by local people.
A design statement said: “It has been primarily designed to be suitable and amenable for its future elderly residents.
“In doing so, and due to the nature of the use, it is designed to be entirely accessible and user friendly for people of all abilities.”
LNT Care Developments believes the service is “much needed” and will provide a number of benefits, while generating significant and important new employment opportunities.
The development will have a “central hub” which is easily accessible from all areas of the care home, as well as having communal areas to “maximise the views of the surrounding area and street-scene, whilst benefiting from good privacy and amenity”.
Courtyards and gardens will have “fluid access” for staff and residents from the ground floor of the building.
Crime prevention strategies have been discussed, including the main office being manned 24/7, lighting for the main site and parking areas and footpaths, as well as railings enclosing the main garden.
You can view the plans by clicking here, with reference 23/501017/FULL.
Bosses of another care home in Minster, Oakdene Rest Home, have recently spoken of the struggle to stay afloat amid rising outgoings faced by the industry during the cost of living crisis.
Concluding the plans for the development, the applicant said: “The proposals for a new purpose-built care home will have a positive impact upon the area by developing the site for a beneficial use that fulfils a need, and will establish a high quality and respectful built form and appearance.
“The development would bring economic benefits by creating more employment and economic activity, both during construction and in the long-term operation of the home.
“Overall, the proposals comprise a high-quality design with appropriate access, and will positively enhance the character and quality of the site and surrounding area.”
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Sean McPolin