CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a 56-bedroom care home in Lowestoft look set to be turned down after planners recommended refusal.An application from Frost Drive Ltd and Brookdale House residential home, to construct the home with staff and ancillary accommodation, is set to be discussed at a Waveney District Council development control committee meeting at Beccles, on Wednesday .

CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a 56-bedroom care home in Lowestoft look set to be turned down after planners recommended refusal.

An application from Frost Drive Ltd and Brookdale House residential home, to construct the home with staff and ancillary accommodation, is set to be discussed at a Waveney District Council development control committee meeting at Beccles, on Wednesday .

The latest revised scheme comes five months after an application for an 80-bed nursing home with staff accommodation and a 15-bed 'very sheltered' housing complex was withdrawn earlier this year.

The proposed development, on land near the Travelodge Hotel, in Leisure Way, has also been opposed by neighbours, the Gunton Park Residents' Association and Suffolk Preservation Society - who labelled the proposal as 'appalling.'

Concerns have been raised over the location of the site - as the land was previously identified for leisure/tourism use, the scale and massing of the buildings and impact on trees and protected species - particularly the rare great crested newts.

In a report to the council, recommending refusal of the application, the Suffolk Preservation Society said: 'This proposal is appalling. We were not enamoured by the construction of the Travelodge or the move of the Tesco garage across the road in the last 10 years or so. However further development on this site is undoubtedly a step too far.

'The continual erosion of wildlife habitat is unacceptable and the pleasant woodland ambience is being lost forever … the noise levels really do not make this site at all suitable for a nursing home.'

But in their report to the council, the applicants said: 'Demographics show a growing and ageing population in Waveney with a need for a significant increase in the provision for very sheltered housing and nursing home places within the next 15 to 20 years.'