Care home demolition will go ahead after appeal

Applicants Minster Care said the site was outdated and “did not meet current standards”

Plans to demolish part of a Shrewsbury care home and replace it with a new building will go ahead after a year-long planning dispute was resolved.

Permission for Minster Care to demolish the northern wing of Bicton Heath House care home and build 30 bedrooms was rejected by Shropshire Council in June 2023.

A new proposal that reduced "the scale and massing" of the new building was then approved in February.

But now the original scheme can go ahead after government inspectors said the second development was so similar to the first, the earlier rejection was effectively invalid.

“Whilst I recognise that each proposal has to be considered on its own individual planning merits, the council has previously accepted a redevelopment scheme at the site which has a very similar footprint, scale and mass to the appeal proposal before me,” Stephen Normington from the Planning Inspectorate said.

“In these circumstances, I have no other substantive evidence to suggest that there are material considerations in the appeal proposal which would result in a cramped form of development beyond that which the council has found acceptable in the 2024 permission."

Although the proposal would result in the "complete loss" of the special interest of the non-designated heritage asset, a heritage statement submitted with the plans assessed the heritage significance of the building as low, he added.

A partial award for appeal costs was also awarded against Shropshire Council.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.