New Care urges U-turn on twice refused care scheme

The firm, a subsidiary of McGoff Group, has resubmitted an application for a 60-bedroom care scheme off Handforth Road in Wilmslow, and asked Cheshire East Council to reconsider its previous rejection of the proposal, citing a shortage of beds amid the coronavirus outbreak.

When the application was rejected for a second time in January, New Care’s chief executive Chris McGoff slammed the decision, describing it as “one of the most bizarre I have ever seen in my 25-year career’’, and saying that the country was facing a care crisis fuelled by a “demographic time bomb” and more beds were needed.

New Care, which has handed over 71 beds at its Bramhall Manor care facility to the NHS in Stockport to help it cope with the Covid-19 crisis, has urged the council to grant planning consent for the Wilmslow scheme at the earliest opportunity in light of the ‘”unimaginable and ever increasing demand on the NHS’’. 

The application, which proposes the demolition of two detached houses to make way for the development of a 1.1-acre plot off Handforth Road, had been earmarked for consideration by the planning committee twice with recommendations to approve. However, it was rejected on both occasions due to concerns that its size would “detrimentally impact the character and appearance of the area”, according to the council.

Cath Fairhurst, chief operating officer at New Care, said: “A fresh approach to the provision of care facilities and beds is needed now more than ever before.  

“Covid-19 has put massive immediate pressure on the NHS, however the current situation has also highlighted the ongoing huge shortfall of beds in hospitals. Many of these are in use by stable patients who have nowhere to go, so they remain in hospital blocking beds.  

“When coronavirus is under control, there will undoubtedly be a need for more care home beds to deal with the longer term implications of more vulnerable patients.”

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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