A CARE home plan described as ‘monstrous’ has been given planning permission despite objections from 32 residents and a parish council.
Vale of White Horse District Council approved the 65-bed care home and 50 ‘extra care’ apartments for Grove Road, Wantage, on Thursday night.
Frontier Estates will now be able to develop the site for luxury care home operator Baycroft despite fears it is an overdevelopment which would not have enough parking and increase the flood risk.
Many neighbours who objected said they felt duped, arguing when Frontier originally unveiled its plans at a public exhibition, one of the designs seemed to show a single two-storey building before the firms then applied for planning permission to build two three-storey buildings.
One of the neighbours who objected, Tony Gilhome, of Upthorpe Drive, said: “The new plan is monstrously large and a blot on the landscape.”
Echoing the concerns of many others he also said access for up to 200 extra people onto ‘an already overcrowded main road’ was ‘not acceptable’ and the danger to a very busy cycle track with many school children using it ‘a recipe for a serious accident’.
But despite these fears, Vale of White Horse District Council planning officer Peter Brampton recommended the planning committee approve the scheme to help provide care home spaces and boost the local economy by creating extra jobs.
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