Councillors to discuss plans for new 66-bed care home in Broadstairs

How it could look (image LNT)

Proposals for a 66-bed care home for older people in Broadstairs will be discussed  by Thanet councillors next week.

LNT Care Developments want to build the care home on land off Northwood Road and Millenium Way.

The site is currently hardstanding land with one unused and incomplete commercial building. The building was constructed for a telecommunications signal regeneration facility in 2000 but was never completed.

LNT say the home will be for general and dementia care and provide employment for 52 staff as well as providing jobs during construction.

The home will be a two-storey, purpose-built building with single-room accommodation and en-suite wetroom facilities.

There will be amenity spaces, including cafes/bars/dining rooms; quiet lounges/family rooms; a library, garden room, cinema and hairdressers.

The site will also have catering facilities, staff showers and changing rooms and 25 parking spaces, including 2 accessible, 2 EVCP and 8 cycle spaces) .

The property will be built by LNT Construction.

Image LNT

Documents submitted by LNT say: “The proposals represent a realistic, certain and important development that will regenerate the site and enhance its contribution to the local economy, community and environment.

“The site recently became available and was purchased by the applicant. Being in a sustainable location, it is suitable and deliverable in the short-term, and offers significant opportunities to improve on the quality and amenity of the local area.

“Whilst these proposals have come forwards during a challenging economic period, they represent a significant investment in the local economy and community. The key elements of the proposals and the numerous benefits available, most notably:

  • Boosting the quality, availability and choice of care accommodation for the changing needs of an ageing population by offering high-quality and adaptable accommodation that safeguards and enhances quality of life;
  • Increasing employment, training and career development opportunities for local people of diverse backgrounds, skills and abilities.
  • Enhancing the site’s sustainability by utilising on-site renewable energy technologies to maximise energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and increase resilience to climate change events.

“The applicant is proposing a significant and ambitious investment in the local community and economy through the provision of a high-quality and sustainably constructed care home; during another challenging economic period. The Site is sustainably located, standalone and vacant; it has a longstanding detriment to the local area and has made no positive contribution to the local area for over 20 years.”

Image LNT

The scheme is supported by Kent County Council strategic commissioning, which says: “We have had contact with LNT Developments on potential sites in Thanet since 2019 and more recently we have specifically discussed the development of this scheme. If successful, they would be looking to work with KCC on the scheme, intend to join the council’s DPS framework for older people’s residential care, and would be looking to provide services for people with dementia.”

Thanet council’s Local Plans officer says the care home should be on a different site rather than one that is earmarked for storage, office, industrial uses as part of the Thanet Reach land.

They say: “We acknowledge the need for this type of accommodation, but such schemes should be directed to one of the many suitable housing allocations in the Local Plan, rather than one of the few retained employment sites.

“Our main concern remains the loss of employment land and in particular the range and choice of employment land supply. Urban employment sites have been steadily eroded and lost to higher value uses over the years. We have few sustainable urban sites in the supply and as such would wish to protect them.”

However, a report to councillors on the planning committee also points out that part of Thanet Reach was deallocated from employment uses and part of the care home proposals fall within a site suitable for residential use. The report also highlights the lack of any occupation on the site for the past 20 years and the 52 jobs that will be created by the care home.

The council case officer is recommending the plans be approved.

The proposals will be discussed by the planning committee on December 14.

7 Comments

  1. Hmmmmm.
    When my family and I moved here in 1988, Fairfield Manor was being built. It rapidly became the most expensive & prestigious residential home in the area.
    Look at what happened to it over the past decade. Damned by the Care Quality Commission and closed.
    Swish new buildings do not a care home make! As local authorities around the country have discovered.
    Property developers and builders are the only people to truly benefit. This is just more opportunism on the part of sharks!
    Reject the application.

  2. Sounds-maybe- like a good idea as we really need more Care Homes . Too many close down for lack of income as they are expensive and the government has limited the amount of money they spend to subsidise individual families that need a place in a Care Home.
    BUT, I know that there is an existing building not far away in Sandwich. Called “Wayfairers”, it WAS a Kent County Council Care Home. Much supported by local residents and available for residents from elsewhere in the area.
    It might need a bit of upgrading but it was a functioning Care Home and it’s available right now!
    BUT, Kent County Council have closed it, moved the residents out, and put it up for sale. My local friends suggest that KCC only want to sell it to property developers and don’t want to own Care Homes themselves.
    Once again, the “free-market, private enterprise only” dogma reigns supreme.
    Despite our local, and national, desperate need for Care Homes, the government puts ideology first. So a successful Care Home in Sandwich gets closed to make way for private house builders, and a new Care Home in Broadstairs is proposed—for the wrong site!
    We need a National Care Service , similar to the National Health Service (but properly funded, of course!)

    • 100% agree with you, care homes are closing trying to get someone in a care home is difficult already and I fear it will get worse. It is certainly all about money.

  3. I think this is a good idea. LNT say they would like local Residents and local employment. Being in a residential area , this would be more aesthetically pleasing than looking at an industrial site or yet more unused Office blocks. Northwood Road is now very busy being surrounded by schools and a Care Home would not exaggerate the traffic problem in the area.

    • You are undoubtedly correct in your traffic generation comment – which begs the question as to why the proposal requires 25 parking spaces ? ? ?

  4. 25 parking spaces sounds minimal for a 66 bed care home taking into account those working there and those visiting.

    It’s all very well saying employment will be provided for 52 staff but as there is already a huge shortage of care workers in Thanet, where are these people going to come from?

    Care home beds are desperately needed to free up NHS beds and relieve some of the current chronic problems, especially ambulances having to wait outside hospitals for hours due to bed shortages within.

  5. 52 staff for 66 residents ? Takes a minimum of 6 people to fill one staff slot 24/7.
    Round those 52 down to cover manager, office staff, cleaners, cooks, so 40 carers ? Meaning they have ratio of 7 carers to 66 residents at best. With dementia !

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