Former Shrewsbury TA base makes room for care home
It has been home to hundreds of soldiers over the years, but the walls of the 95 Signal Squadron's former base have finally been breached - not by enemy forces, but to make way for a care home.
The Royal Corp of Signals had a Territorial Army squadron at the TA Centre in Sundorne Road, Shrewsbury, from 1969 to 2010.
Until recently cadets still used the base at weekends, but a line was drawn under the long military history of the site this weekend as the centre was pulled down once and for all.
Instead there are plans for the area to be host to an £8 million, 90-bed care home, which is hoped to create 120 full time and part time jobs in the town.
The project is the latest in a series of new care home developments Coverage Care, following a £6.5 million centre which was opened in Oswestry in 2013.
The Shrewsbury home is expected to open in 2016 and will be similar in size and design to the New Fairholme development in Oswestry.
Coverage Care chief executive David Coull said: "The site on Sundorne Road is perfectly placed to ensure a high quality of life for residents, with leisure facilities and a GP surgery right on its doorstep."
The proposed new home will have 90 en-suite bedrooms over two floors, with a third storey at the centre of the design. The planning application also includes 19 homes on behalf of the Wrekin Housing Trust.
The home will have two wings on each floor, each with its own lounge and dining area, plus communal rooms and a private garden at the back of the building.
Coverage Care operates 15 care centres in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.
It will be the not-for-profit firm's third collaboration with Castlemead Group, an expert in delivering care homes.
Shrewsbury's TA Centre was home to recruits from across the county and beyond, who travelled there to train and work.
The 95 Shropshire Yeomanry Signal Squadron took over from the former 4 Squadron in 1971 and took and active role in the community over the years, helping with charity events, supplying emergency services during bad weather, supplying generator power to telephone exchanges and remote homes, and loaning off-road vehicles to Shrewsbury Police Station.
Members of the squadron saw active service in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.
