'Undesirable encroachment onto rural land' - Plans for new 74-bed care home next to Newport pub refused
Plans to build a new 74-bed care home off the A41 in Newport have been refused by Telford & Wrekin Council.
Bromsgrove-based Barcroft Estates applied for planning permission to build the new facility back in October.
The company hoped to build a care home on a 0.77-hectare site next to the Premier Inn hotel and The Three Fishes pub off the A41 Newport Bypass.
The application stated the home would provide specialist care for the elderly, to meet the "continued demand" for the accommodation of "vulnerable older people requiring nursing and dementia care".
In principle, the proposal had attracted the support of Newport Town Council - subject to meeting a number of conditions.
A spokesperson for the town council said that they "recognise the need for care beds in Newport" but asked the local authority and developers to consider the installation of a pedestrian crossing and the reduction of the speed limit along the A41.
They added: "The [town] council would ask the developers to consider the layout of the site in respect of the residents' garden area being directly adjacent to a busy main road whereas the car park is behind the building - would it not be more agreeable to residents to have the building between them and the noise and pollution of the road?
"Finally the council would ask planners and developers to consider the location of the building out of town when there are undeveloped land areas within the town centre."
But now, Telford & Wrekin Council planners have refused the application for planning permission, calling the development an "undesirable encroachment onto an area of land designated as rural".
The decision notice reads: "The level and type of care need presented is not considered to outweigh the harm caused by development in the rural area and insufficient evidence as to the availability of other previously developed sites has been provided."
The local authority also rules that the development would "result in significant adverse impact in terms of noise", specifically relating to the communal garden to the front of the development.
The application and full decision is available to view online on Telford & Wrekin Council's planning portal, using reference number TWC/2024/0770.
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