Revised plans for a new 66-bed Whitby care home win planning permission

LNT Care Developments lodged plans with Scarborough Council for the 66 bedroom development at Sneaton Castle, part of a major development that will see more than 240 new homes built when it is completed.

The extra care facility for elderly people was part of the original plans for the site that were given outline approval in 2016.

In 2019, the borough council planning committee went against their officers’ advice and threw out plans for a three-storey building, saying it would “stand out like a sore thumb” compared to the surrounding area.

Today (July 1), Scarborough Council’s planning committee approved the revised plans.

A report prepared for the councillors said that the new building was much smaller than the previous scheme.

It noted: “In addition to the reduction in height, the scheme has a frontage length to Castle Road of some 55 metres, which is a 35% reduction in relation to the refused extra care scheme, which had a frontage of 84.5 metres, the majority of which was three storey in height.

“The scale of the development is much reduced overall, with 66 bedrooms now proposed in place of 65 individual flats.”

The applicant says the scheme would create 58 jobs and has agreed to make a Section 106 contribution of more than £11,000 requested by North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group to fund healthcare improvements in the area.

Whitby Town Council and nine members of the public had objected to the scheme.

The objectors said that while there is “no objection to a care home per se” there were “major concerns” about the access to the site, traffic, the size of the development and its impact on people living nearby, the lack of parking and the strain it would put on local services, such as GP practises.

North Yorkshire County Council Highways did not object to the plans and councillors heard that sightlines from the access to the site would be improved if the development went ahead.

Cllr Phil Kershaw told the meeting that he welcomed the change in the size of the building.

He said: “This is a much more proportional building for the area and it is reassuring in a way that the developer has taken our comments from the previous application and gone away, looked at it and changed it.”

Cllr Clive Pearson added: “I think it will certainly look a lot better than the old proposal.”

The plans were approved unanimously.