Council rejects plans for 67-bed dementia nursing home in Berkhamsted
Plans to build a 67-bed nursing home for people with dementia on the outskirts of Berkhamsted have been rejected by Dacorum Borough Council’s development management committee.
At a meeting on July 31, councillors agreed to back a recommendation from council officers that they should refuse to grant planning permission for the development.
Berkham Oaks Dementia Care had wanted to build the home at Bulbourne Wood, off New Road in Northchurch. It would have offered 67 beds, with half of those considered ‘affordable’ and available to those on the county council’s waiting list.
But planning officers deemed its Green Belt location to be inappropriate, and suggested the developer had not provided “adequate evidence” that it was not possible to build the home on a site outside the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Concerns were also raised about the proposal to remove more than 150 trees in the area of the proposed building, which has a tree preservation order in place.
Councillor Fiona Guest said: “No one will argue about the need for specialist dementia care within Dacorum, but this is not the place for it.”
Her words were echoed by Councillor Caroline Smith-Wright, who suggested the location could be a “fire hazard” given the number of nearby trees and added: “There is a need, but I’m not sure this is the right place for it.”
Councillors had earlier listened to a plea from the applicant to approve their outline application.
They said: “This is for a highly specialist facility for those with advanced dementia. There is a significant existing and future need for this type of care, but it is simply not being delivered elsewhere in Dacorum. Why are similar nursing homes not coming forward on less constrained sites?
“The answer to that … is that the high land values on those sites will always favour more profitable care homes and assisted living. These are always one hundred per cent private market [rate], with limited or no nursing care, and this contrasts with our proposal, with full nursing care and 50 per cent affordable bedspaces.”
They said the applicant had considered “every potential site within five miles of the proposal”, and dismissed one of the alternative sites suggested by council officers, at West Hemel Hempstead, as “far too cramped” for the proposed home with the landowner asking for “too much to allow for either nursing care or for affordable bedspaces”.
The applicant concluded: “Families are already having to place loved ones far from home, and the system is under growing pressure.
“If you turn this down tonight, nothing happens. The site stays empty, but the need doesn’t go away. Families will keep suffering, NHS beds will stay blocked, and the chance to fix that will be lost.”
One member of the public who spoke to object to the plans, Anne Smith, said she had 20 years’ experience in running care homes and dementia care.
She said the surrounding woodland, the “poor” access and “distance from the local community” meant it would not give residents “a good quality of life”.
Ms Smith continued: “Dementia causes misidentifications and hallucinations. Trees and their shadows can become a malevolent presence or a trip hazard for many.
“Living in a woodland may cause distressing emotions.”
Ben Kent, chair of the Northchurch Common Residents’ Association, also objected to the scheme. He said it was “inevitable” that the home would cause an “overspill” of parking onto New Road, causing safety issues.
Hertfordshire County Council’s highways department did not object to the final proposals.
The home would have had 24 car parking spaces, with the equivalent of 94 full-time staff once developed.
The applicant had said they would either ensure an on-site bus stop for the Herts Lynx on-demand service or run their own minibus to transport staff and visitors from Berkhamsted railway station.