Assisted living scheme approved

Plans for an assisted living scheme in Worcester have been given the go-ahead.

Five existing flats and a six-bedroom house will be converted into nine one-bed apartments for adults with specialist needs.

Work will also include the demolition and rebuild of a garage and sun room, plus the partial demolition of an extension used as a bowling alley.

When complete, the scheme in Tunnel Hill will incorporate on-site accommodation for a carer.

Aspirations Care, the company behind the project, said future residents will be able to live “semi-independently” but will have additional needs.

A care provider will therefore be on site 24 hours a day.

Planning documents submitted to Worcester City Council say the six-bed house is currently vacant and would need renovating before it could be let out or sold.

Instead, it will be converted into four flats, with the existing garage knocked down and turned into a fifth.

An existing sun room will also be demolished and a small one-storey extension built to increase the size of one of the flats.

“One of the basement flats will be used as staff accommodation,” the plans state. “This is temporary accommodation for staff on the night shift and not a permanent residence.”

Some neighbours had objected to the scheme, mainly with concerns about parking.

Ingrid Bevis said she was “very concerned about this change” and hoped there would “not be violent or criminal people living there”.

She also raised concerns about the “possible devaluation of our home”.

Akurath Yerva said: “Our neighbourhood already experiences serious traffic flow due to school and an unbearable noise environment, which I believe would be compromised by this development.”

And Paul Ormsby said: “I am worried about the impact on an already bad road for double parking, not just Tunnel Hill but Hollymount as it is opposite a school.

“My concern is the extra cars parking in the road as the public transport does not exist along this route because of the vehicles already parked on the road.”

The developer said in planning documents: “Aspirations Care always try to recruit locally and encourage workers to travel on foot or by public transport whenever possible.

“The residents will not be able to drive so minimal parking will be required.”