New care home could create 70 jobs (From Yeovil Express)

New care home could create 70 jobs

9:29am Wednesday 20th February 2013 in News

PLANS to build a 68-bedroom care home in Chard, which could create 70 jobs, look set to receive the go-ahead later today (Wednesday).

Abbey Manor Developments Ltd has applied to South Somerset District Council for permission to build the care home on land off Thorndun Park Drive, along with a housing development of 41 properties, roads, parking, landscaping and pavement links.

Knightstone Housing Association will manage the affordable rented flats and houses and the proposed care home will provide specialist residential care for the elderly, including dementia care.

Members of the council’s Area West committee will tonight hear that the land, on the main Furnham Road – a key route into the town, has been unused since the creation of Chard Business Park in the 1980s.

A council report said the site was a ‘conspicuous feature of the business park and the Chard gateway’ and deserved a high quality development. The area would probably remain undeveloped for years to come if the proposal was refused.

Planning officer Andrew Gunn, who has recommended that councillors approve the application, said efforts including an extensive marketing campaign to generate employment use for the site, had failed.

He added: “It is important to note that while the care home is not strictly an employment use for a business park, it could generate up to 70 jobs, which may possibly far outweigh those that could be generated by a large storage warehouse on the site.”

The meeting takes place this evening at the Guildhall in Chard.