Plans approved for new 50-bed care home, creating 40 jobs

Earlier this year, proposals were lodged for a new care facility at Bunker Hill in the Copt Hill ward.

According to planning documents, the site was previously used by the Philadelphia Nursing Home before its closure and subsequent demolition.

New plans from the adjacent Springfield Care Home aimed to establish a care home at the site again, creating around 40 jobs.

The home will provide residential care and dementia and nursing care, offering 23 bedrooms at ground floor level and 27 bedrooms at first floor level.

When complete, it will also boast 29 dedicated parking spaces, landscaped gardens and a kitchen, laundry room and hair salon.

Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways (West) Committee approved the plans on Tuesday, October 27.

Following the expiry of a consultation exercise, three letters were received raising concerns about a range of issues.

This included traffic, loss of privacy, increased noise and disturbance and ‘construction management.’

Planning officer, Anthony Jukes, recommended the plans for approval at the virtual meeting this week, which was held via videolink and broadcast on YouTube.

“In summary given the spacing achieved and with the imposition of the detailed conditions in the report, the proposal is considered acceptable and the issues raised are not considered significant to warrant a recommendation that the application be refused,” he said.

In response to a question from Cllr Dr Geoff Walker, Jukes added that existing trees would ‘largely obscure the [care home] building from the Philadelphia cricket ground perspective.”

Following approval, the application will now be sent to the council’s executive director of city development for final approval.

This is subject to the ‘finer technical aspects’ of the drainage strategy being agreed.

A design and access statement from the applicant, submitted to council planners in January 2020, also outlines the benefits of the scheme.

It reads: “This development offers the opportunity of providing a building of quality for Houghton-le-Spring, as well as providing much needed care and employment, as well as contributing substantially to the local community.”

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