Derelict Northampton care home to be bulldozed for houses

Ecton Brook House care home, which has been empty since 2016, has been called 'derelict'

A derelict care homes is to be demolished to make way for affordable homes.

Ecton Brook House, in the Ecton Brook area of Northampton, has been empty since 2016.

It was built in the 1970s to provide assisted living places for up to 46 elderly people who were moved to other homes when Ecton Brook House closed.

A local councillor said the new development would provide much-needed low-cost housing in his area.

Planning documents state the existing building is "in a reasonably run down state and, therefore, there are no objections to its demolition on visual grounds as the proposal would serve to create an improvement".

Under the plans, the old care home will be completely demolished and replaced by 18 mainly two-storey homes with solar panels, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

There will be a car park with 37 spaces.

The homes would be run by Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH), which is wholly owned by West Northamptonshire Council and manages the authority's housing stock.

Two of the homes will be wheelchair accessible.

The homes would be managed by Northampton Partnership Holmes

A report to councillors on the planning committee stated that WNC's policy was to have some form of low-cost home ownership as part of any scheme, but the council had accepted NPH's explanation as to why this was not possible in this case.

A community hub that was promised in a previous planning application did not form part of this proposal.

The go-ahead for the project was given at a planning meeting this week.

James Hill, who is a ward councillor for Billing and Rectory Farm, told the meeting: "I'm delighted to see this application here today. The site has obviously been derelict for some time. We're going to have much-needed affordable housing in my area."

He also said that plans for a community centre building on the development could be submitted as a separate application in the future.

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