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Councillors refuse permission for care home in Burntwood

District councillors in Lichfield have refused permission for a 78-bed care home in Burntwood, after opposition from local councillors and the town council.

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Burntwood Care Home Plans

The application was called in by Chasetown councillor Darren Ennis, who said it didn’t meet the needs of the area.

He also said a new care home would struggle to recruit staff and that there were empty rooms at existing care homes in the town.

He said: “Burntwood has 10 cares homes with 279 rooms in them. One has 20 empty rooms out of 68, which is a lot.”

He added that a care home, which accommodated 25 people, had recently been closed down and turned into flats.

Councillor Ennis told Lichfield District Council’s planning committee he hopes the plot of land to be used for the scheme can instead be used for retail space, which he said Burntwood needs – despite the new McArthur Glen outlet attracting some of the bigger designer brands.

He quipped: “Ted Baker and Hugo Boss aren’t knocking on Burntwood’s door, I don’t expect them to.

“Within Burntwood at the moment we have one shop up for rent – and that’s under offer as it stands at the moment. Retail in Burntwood is actually quite thriving – it’s among the best in the district.”

He said that, by comparison, Lichfield city centre currently has 12 empty units.

“I don’t think the rationale to say there’s a lack of need for retail is fair. We need a town centre, we need a diverse centre.”

He said the proposals would create a barrier and divide the town centre – something which would deter further investment, he said.

Councillor Ennis added that the existing care homes were also struggling for staff – saying those he’d spoken to were worried about competing for recruitment if a new care home were to open nearby.

The applicant’s agent Paul Shuker said: “The applicant is well aware of the local neighbourhood plans and the preferred allocation of the wider site for retail – which has long aspirations since the 1990s.

“The applicant has provided significant planning and marketing evidence last year to confirm that there’s no significant demand for retail and leisure floor space.”

He said that as the care home plan would only fill part of the site, and the rest could be used for retail in the future.

“It will repurpose a brownfield site in a sustainable location, whilst ensuring that future mixed uses as required can be brought forward in the future when demand exists.

“The site has been vacant for a significant amount of time, and there is a need for specialist housing in Burntwood and the borough more widely.”

Mr Shuker said Burntwood Town Council didn’t engage with the developer on the plans when asked to.

Councillor Diane Evans was concerned the public’s views would count for nothing if the scheme were allowed to proceed.

She said: “We have a neighbourhood plan, which was many years in the making – and the public were very involved in this.

“That committee were very clear that they wished Sankey’s Corner to be identified for retail and leisure.

“I understand the constraints there are now on these developments, but to argue for a new care home on this site would obviously preclude that area from having what Burntwood needs in the future.”

She added: “This care home is not going to support the local community as we have sufficient care homes in the area with vacant places, as Councillor Ennis has stated.

“It’s a three-story, overpowering development which will not fit well within the street scene due to its size and height.”

Councillor Samuel Tapper added: “Some people might say it does meet the demands of mixed development [as set out in the neighbourhood plan].

“I think it meets it in the worst possible way – it meets it in a technical sense.”

“Technically it is mixed development, but is it truly mixed development? I don’t believe that right now we should be making decisions based on ‘technically’, we should be making it based on what’s right.

“The spirit of the local plan is that this area should be used for retail development or for mixed development that served the interests of a town centre.

“This [application] shows in my opinion no signs or indications of a town centre.”

He said it did not adequately serve the needs of the community, and added that it wasn’t a suitable location for people who required assisted living.

Councillor Rob Birch said: “I don’t think anyone would like to see the area developed more than myself.

“It’s been just a derelict area of land for some time, but I do feel quite strongly that it would be better to have the right development, or no development at all, rather than one which splits the land in two and makes future hopes for a proper town centre highly unlikely.

“If anything it seems to ride a coach and horses right through the hopes for any plan for future growth of a town centre.”

The application was refused by seven votes to three.

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