Nowton Park will not be damaged by the construction of a new three-storey nursing home, says the company behind the plan, after a government inspector overturned St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s decision to refuse the proposal last year.
The 60-bed nursing home, which would be part of the existing Nowton Care Village had been labelled by some objectors as “monstrous, oppressive and like a Premier Inn”.
The borough’s planning committee voted 9-7 against the plan last year, following a recommendation to refuse from the council’s planning department.
The decision has been reversed by government planning inspector Lesley Coffey, who wrote: “The proposal would deliver a number of benefits, including addressing a shortfall in nursing home provision within the locality.”
He also said the proposal would not be visible from the iconic Lime Avenue and only a part of the building would be visible along a short stretch of footpath elsewhere in the park.
Simon Patient is director of Heritage Manor Ltd, the company behind the plan.
He said: “I think when you look at the designs and what we’re proposing, we want it to blend in as much as possible to the park. I think compared to most nursing home designs where there’s an argument for saying they look a bit like a Premier Inn, we’ve taken great care to make this design specific to its location. It’s designed around the trees.”
There are a number of redwoods around the proposed site, which would remain, but 28 trees of category C and B standard will be chopped down.
The site is within the Nowton Park area but this specific area of land is privately owned.
The scheme has been supported by West Suffolk Hospital’s chief executive Stephen Dunn, who wrote in 2015 it would “support the local health economy of Suffolk”.
Mr Patient there was not yet a start date for construction.
“We’re very pleased with the planning inspector’s decision and that our efforts to design a building sympathetic to the site have been recognised,” he said.
“We think there were some significant miscalculations and misunderstandings of our design which were not fully understood and which we weren’t given the opportunity to explain. We would be happy to talk to anyone now who wanted to ask any questions about them.”
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