‘Cautious optimism’ over care village plan as vital vote looms

Chris Mitchell, the chairman of York Heritage Ltd, faces objections from two parish councils over plans for an 80 bed care home and 24 supervised bungalows, costing between £6m and £7m, on the site of a disused turkey farm at Barmby Moor.

East Riding Council’s adult services team says the plans for land next to Spring House Farm are likely to lead to an “overcapacity” of residential care beds, and the scheme is recommended for refusal by planners at a meeting on Thursday.

But Mr Mitchell said the council had been “jaundiced” by the Government telling local authorities to spend more on home care than residential care for the elderly, when the reality was that home care “doesn’t work and never will”.

He said: “A care village looks after people right from the onset of infirmity to the last days of life. We need to provide all levels of care to take someone right from the time they need a bit of washing or ironing, right through to the time when they need help with eating and toiletting and in the worst case, dementia and end of life care.

“Our concept is that this will be a home forever, however poorly you might be and you won’t be moved or shunted around.”

Care villages, a concept which came from the United States, are beginning to crop up in the UK. On site there will be a newsagents, pharmacy, post office, gym and hydrotherapy, and social activities so residents “can live a highly fulfilling lifestyle, all within the confines of the community.” The scheme, the applicants say, will create 150 jobs.

The development is backed by the local GPs practice in Elvington, with Dr Timothy Longmore saying it will help the local community by providing clubs and day care facilities, currently only available in York and Pocklington.

In a letter the GP says having all the facilities on one site is the most important aspect of the project, adding: “It will ensure that residents are enabled to live independently for a greater period of time and more satisfactorily.”

However not all locals are convinced. The care village, earmarked for land which already has permission for log cabins, will be 1.7km from Barmby Moor and 2.7km from Wilberfoss, and both Yapham Parish Council and Newton on Derwent Parish Council are concerned about access and “sustainability”, given arguments East Riding Council has given previously “to block even small rural planning and development applications because of the extra vehicle movements involved.”

Yapham Parish Council describes Feoffee Common Lane, one of the approaches which will be used to the site, as “entirely unsuitable for any increase in traffic, with dangerous blind bends, without passing places and insufficient room for two vehicles to pass”.

There are also concerns about increasing the amount of traffic going onto the A1079.

However York Heritage Ltd commissioned a highways consultant and the council’s highways department is not objecting, following improvements in 2010 to the junction with the A1079.

The scheme is still down for refusal on three grounds - including its “excessive” scale. Officers also say it an “unsustainable form of residential development”, “inevitably requiring access by car.”

York Heritage Ltd runs eight care homes for the elderly, including The Hall Care Home in Thorton-le-Dale, which has a pub and restaurant on site, which the public and visitors use.

Mr Mitchell says whatever happens he will fight on: “What staggers me is that in this climate, this day and age, I can’t see why a combination of a great way of living for older people combined with 150 jobs is a fight – why am I fighting?”