Care home for Lowestoft to be discussed

MORE care home jobs in Lowestoft could be created if plans are given the go-ahead.

But the new nursing home proposals, which would offer 80 beds for elderly people in the town, have 'dismayed' residents and community groups.

A scheme to build the complex, with staff accommodation on land off Leisure Way with 15 'very sheltered cottage-style' housing units, has been submitted to Waveney District Council.

Situated next to the new Travelodge hotel the scheme is set to be discussed by the council's development control committee on Wednesday, April 15.

The site already has leisure complex approval which was passed by the council in 2006. But the application, submitted by Frostdrive Ltd and Brookdale House Residential Home, has attracted widespread concern.

Much of this was centred round the nearby newt pond, which is close to the proposed development, and had previously come under scrutiny as the endangered great crested newts held up the �2.3m Travelodge development.

In a report to councillors Gunton Park Residents Association have questioned whether a nursing home falls into the leisure and tourism category while other neighbouring properties also hit out at the plans, adding concern to the 'detrimental effects' the building would have on the colony of newts.

These views were echoed by the Gunton Woodland Community Project, the Suffolk Wildlife Trust and Natural England who have all objected to the plans.

And Waveney Council planners are recommended that the project be refused because the site is outside the town's development boundary - even though demographics show that the need for nursing home beds in the area will increase over the next 15 to 20 years.

The accommodation would be built in an L-shaped block on the northern side of the site and the two-storey buildings would provide a total of 84 rooms over three floors.