A RETIREMENT home has been given the go-ahead to extend its premises - despite fears that the plans could lead to an invasion of privacy and devaluation of neighbouring properties.

A RETIREMENT home has been given the go-ahead to extend its premises - despite fears that the plans could lead to an invasion of privacy and devaluation of neighbouring properties.

District councillors in Babergh approved the application to build a two-storey extension at Hillside Retirement Home in Kings Meadow, Great Cornard.

Despite meeting the approval of the parish council, one local resident, who has not been named, had claimed the plans would shatter the “ambience” of the area and called for the application to be thrown out.

In a letter to Babergh District Council, the resident said: “The proposed extension will be unacceptably close to my boundary excluding natural light from my garden and from my living room, which has a window on the side facing the proposed building.

“The height and proximity of the [new] building would tower over my garden overlooking it, thus constituting an invasion of my privacy.

“The proposed extension would also completely destroy the general nature and ambience of this part of Kings Meadow, devaluing my property and that of my neighbours.”

But members of the district council's development committee approved the extension plans for Mellish House, which would incorporate a dozen bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, two lounges and two bathrooms. An additional 26 car parking spaces would also be built.

In a report to the committee, councillors were urged to approve the extension plans, with the retirement home described as an “established facility... within easy reach of facilities and services in Sudbury”.

And Cornard Parish Council chairman Peter Beer said the extension could be vital if plans to shut Sudbury's Walnuttree and St Leonard's hospitals are carried out by health bosses.

He said: “We are going to need more care homes but whether this is in the right place or not will be decided next week at the council meeting.

“These additional places are needed, particularly when you consider the fact we might lose our hospitals - but my view might change when I hear all the facts.”

Both Hillside Retirement Home and its owners, Caring Homes Ltd, declined to comment.