Ribble Valley signs off 68-bed Clitheroe care home

Eric Wright Group’s newly created Wrightcare Developments will deliver and operate the senior living facility when it completes in summer 2025.

Ribble Valley councillors voted to approve Wrightcare’s planning application for the scheme on Thursday. This will be the first care home for Wrightcare.

The two-storey care home has been designed by DWA Architects. It will be built on more than two acres of greenfield land on the former Higher Standen Farm in Clitheroe.

In addition to the 68 bedrooms, each with a private bathroom, there will be a hair salon and a library/games room.

Access to the site will be Higher Standen Drive, which offers a direction to Pendle Road. There will be space for 27 cars to park.

Wrightcare sister company, Eric Wright Construction, will build the care home. Eric Wright aims to start on site this spring.

Steven Abbott Associates is the planner for the project. Other team members include JPS, Salford Archaeology, Envirotech, TACE, Mode Transport Planning, and Environoise. TEL is the landscape architect.

Jeremy Hartley, chief executive of Eric Wright Group, welcomed the decision by Ribble Valley councillors. He also elaborated on why the group was getting involved in the operation of care homes, rather than just the building of them.

Hartley said: “With an aging population and increasing instances of dementia and its associated complex needs, it is important that we ensure the provision of top-class facilities and exceptional care. This fits well with the ethos of the group and The Eric Wright Charitable Trust to positively contribute to the areas in which we work.”

Learn more about the project by searching application reference number 3/2023/0305 on Ribble Valley’s planning portal.