£10m Climping dementia care centre is refused

Healthcare Management Trust (HMT), a not-for-profit charitable provider of older persons care, wanted to invest more than £10million in a new facility on land behind Baird’s Farm Shop and Cafe south of the A259.

The council’s development control committee voted against the application on Wednesday, November 14, after officers recommended refusal.

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In a letter to the developers, Neil Crowther, group head of planning, said the centre was refused because it would negatively impact the landscape due to its size, would be difficult for people to access with public transport and because developers ‘failed to make an adequate contribution towards affordable housing provision and infrastructure’.

He said: “Given the siting, design, scale and height of the proposed building it would adversely affect the visual amenities of the locality in that it would be obtrusive in the landscape and prominent from surrounding viewpoints and would constitute an alien intrusion in the countryside which would be out of keeping with and detrimental to the rural character of the locality.”

The proposed buildings would have been two-storeys high and designed to incorporate eight bedroom wings.

Clymping Parish Council opposed the scheme and Arun received 20 letters of objection from residents compared to 46 standard letters of support.

According to the original application, the home would have contained ‘destinations’ such as a cinema, hair salon, cafes and terraces overlooking the gardens.