Consent secured for Fylde care village

11 September 2018 07:33 Comments (1)

Indigo Planning, on behalf of Fylde Coast Care Village, has won outline planning permission for a senior living development at the Great Birchwood Country Park site in Warton, Fylde.

The site, originally an RAF military camp, had been more recently used as a holiday camp before becoming vacant. Manchester architect 5Plus has designed the care village development.

The scheme will offer up to 33 assisted living bungalows alongside a 75-bed care home and small leisure facility described as accessible to both Warton and Lytham.

Although the site sits within the green belt, Indigo said that working closely with officers and consultees, it had been able to secure consent for a scheme that is both sensitive to its surroundings yet still maximises the development potential of the site. With coastal areas traditionally being popular retirement locations, Fylde has a higher proportion of older residents than most, in what is a sector seeing demand outstrip supply nationally.

Doug Hann, executive director of Indigo, said: “This has been a challenging site and we’re delighted that through working closely with officers we’ve been able to secure consent for redevelopment. The Green Belt location and site assets make it a perfect location for a care development to meet local needs.”

Buildings on site will be demolished as part of the project. Indigo said that landscape enhancements are a key part of the scheme which will see the pond areas retained with new planting of native wild flowers, and a management plan enacted for the woodland.

The intention is for the leisure facility to be open to not only residents but also the general public providing an opportunity for interaction and providing an outward-looking community.

Speaking on behalf of Exeter-registered Fylde Coast Care Village, Andrew Waugh said: “Indigo worked very hard with us and 5Plus to achieve planning consent on the site, whilst preserving its natural features, to create a village environment where residents and their families with want to and enjoy spending time”.