New Care eyes bigger facility following successful appeal  

The McGoff Group subsidiary has lodged plans to increase the number of bedrooms at its consented care home in Wilmslow to 63, the latest event in a lengthy battle with Cheshire East Council over the scheme.

New Care’s plans for a 30,000 sq ft facility on Handforth Road were knocked back by Cheshire East’s planning committee on two separate occasions before the latest refusal was overturned on appeal.

Now, New Care wants to add three additional bedrooms under fresh proposals that are recommended for approval by the council at a meeting next week. 

The request to increase the capacity of the proposed three-storey care home is the latest chapter in a long-running tussle between the developer and the Cheshire East’s planning committee, which has twice rejected officer’s recommendations that it should approve the project.

When the developer’s plan to build a 60-bedroom care home on the 1.1-acre site was rejected for a second time last January, the company’s chief executive Chris McGoff described the decision as “one of the most bizarre I have ever seen in my 25-year career’’. 

Following an appeal, the planning inspector sided with the developer and overturned the council’s refusal of the plans. 

In allowing the appeal, the planning inspector said: “The sensitive design of the buildings would ensure that the proposed development would be able to successfully assimilate into the area.” 

On both earlier occasions of refusal, planning committee members claimed that the scheme would “detrimentally impact the character and appearance of the local area”. 

However, having reviewed the case, the planning inspectorate disagreed, concluding that the development, which involves the demolition of two detached properties on Handforth Road, would not cause harm to the area. 

The scheme was designed by architects Street Design Partnerships and landscape architects DEP Landscape Architecture. Garner Town Planning is the agent. 

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