Bradford care home plan has to go ahead

Concerned parties aired their views about the future of the hospital site – the hospital closed in 2005 – at the town council’s planning and town development committee meeting on Tuesday.

Many issues were raised about the size and appearance of the three-storey nursing home proposed by Castlemead Care, which would be home to dementia suffers and other elderly people.

After the hospital’s closure the land was earmarked for residential and health care use and there is a covenant on the site for providing health care.

Chris Beaver, planning director of GL Hearn, who have worked on the residential properties there, said: “I don’t object to health care on the site. Our problem is just the nature of the development and that it adheres to the needs of the site.”

Miss Davies recently purchased land at the site and is one of the residents concerned by size of the proposed nursing home development.

Bradford on Avon Community Healthcare chairman John Cottle said: “I can’t really understand why these complaints have come around now, as the plans for the nursing home on the site were announced for everyone to see on April 15 in the Wiltshire Times.

“As far as the complaint by Sharron Davies is concerned, she shouldn’t have bought the place in the first place if she didn’t like the idea of the nursing home.”

Bradford on Avon Town Council is keen to see the nursing home built and has now passed on positive comments to Wiltshire Council, who are expected to pass judgement on the plans at the end of the month.

Town councillor Paul Skidmore said: “We are very enthusiastic about this project and Bradford on Avon needs this as it will bring essential healthcare and jobs to the town.

“To jeopardise this would be silly, quite simply, it has to go ahead.”

l Consult us on plan: Letters, page 19