Green light to demolish day centre for 50 new care flats

A FORMER New Milton day centre will be demolished to make way for 50 new care units for the over-55s after district councillors gave their support to the plans.

The site of the Fernmount Centre and Fernmount House, in Forest Pines, is owned by Hampshire County Council and will be redeveloped to provide one and two-bedroom apartments.

The facility will include a residents' lounge and dining room, a hairdresser, mobility buggy storage area and staff offices and a kitchen.

The Fernmount Centre was built in 1981 to provide residential accommodation and day centre services for adults with learning difficulties. But the site has been abandoned since 2016 when the day care and respite facilities were closed and other services moved to Gore Road.

Now Hampshire County Council has joined forces with Morgan Ashley Care Developments and Places for People to redevelop the site for people with care needs as part of a £45m drive to double the number of extra-care housing apartments in Hampshire for older people from 750 to 1,500.

Under the plans, all the new homes will be affordable with 40 available for rent and 10 for shared ownership.

A report to New Forest District Council’s planning committee said: “The joint statement agreed between NFDC and HCC indicates that the homes for rent will be prioritised for older people with a local connection to the New Forest district, while it is anticipated that the shared ownership will also be purchased by people with local connections.”

Turning to the design of the development, NFDC planning officer Stephen Belli said: “The design of the building has a contemporary flavour which fits well with the contemporary development to the north of the site.

“The building has a large mass but is broken into a number of elements to reduce the impact.

“The applicants overall have significantly improved the design of the building and reduced their height from the predominantly three-storey proposal presented at the pre-application stage.”

Previous plans by London-based housing association Family Mosaic for 80 sheltered homes, aided by £3m of government funding, also fell through.

The meeting heard that New Milton Town Council had raised a number of issues with the scheme including the impact on neighbours and protected trees – however, these had been resolved after further consultation.

Speaking in support of the scheme, planning agent Pete Sulley said: “The proposal is for self-contained flats – all would be affordable and all would have care available 24 hours a day.

“While the scheme is open to over-55s it is likely that the majority of residents will be 75 years old or older.”

Cllr Fran Carpenter said she regretted the loss of some trees around the site and felt that NFDC should have a policy requiring any tree removal to be replaced with two new trees. However, she added: “Extra care units are highly needed in New Milton and I feel we are very lucky to have this facility.”

Cllr Sue Bennison described the proposal as an “excellent scheme” and she welcomed the opportunity for up-to-date facilities to be built into the designs.

Cllr Dunning said: “It is important to remember that when elderly people move into properties like this, it frees up larger houses for younger people to access.”

Planning permission was unanimously granted and the county council now hoped the scheme will be completed as early as 2021.