Storm over dementia care home

A PLAN for a 30-bed dementia care unit on Green Belt land at Warrington has caused a storm of protest.
Nearly 100 objections have been received from nearby residents and there is opposition also from local borough councillors, the parish council and Warrington South MP David Mowat.
But more than 200 people have made representations supporting the scheme, or raising no objections.
Abbotsfield Care Ltd have applied for permission for the unit on land adjoining the existing 60-bed Three Elms care home in Station Road, Penketh.
The development would be an L-shaped, two-storey hipped roof block to the west of the existing care home immediately south of the junction of Station Road and Tannery Lane.
Penketh Parish Council has objected on the grounds of highways safety, Green Belt, ecology, overdevelopment of the site and lack of adequate open space
Similar objections come from local councillors Linda Dirir and David Keane while the MP expresses concern about inappropriate development in the Green Belt.
Supporters of the scheme – who include staff, residents and relatives of residents of Three Elms – claim the existing home requires the extension to be able to continue to offer the care it provides.
They say it would enable continuity of care for existing residents while extra care was needed.
The development would offer 30 long term jobs and the design and landscaping would be sympathetic to the existing building.