Home demolition gets the go-ahead
A WISBECH home for 33 elderly residents – sold by Cambridgeshire County Council to London-based Excelcare – is to be demolished and replaced by an 85-bed residential nursing home. The new owner has been told it can demolish Glennfield House, in Money Bank
A WISBECH home for 33 elderly residents - sold by Cambridgeshire County Council to London-based Excelcare - is to be demolished and replaced by an 85-bed residential nursing home.
The new owner has been told it can demolish Glennfield House, in Money Bank, after the sale of the care home "was forced upon the county council due to the need to redevelop the site to meet local needs".
The explanation, given by Excelcare in its application to Fenland District Council, said the re-development was also needed to "improve the standards of accommodation for the future".
Excelcare, which has nine other homes in and around Cambridge which were formerly owned by the county council, said in the absence of funding for alteration and extensions "the county council has needed to look to the private sector to invest in public funded bed spaces".
The new beds at Wisbech will be made available for existing residents and those on county council waiting lists, as well as the frail and elderly "currently (unnecessarily) occupying bed spaces at local hospitals".
Excelcare said the Glennfield redevelopment would be in two phases, to ensure existing residents were cared for, and would exceed the current standards.
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"There is no more appropriate site in the locality," said an Excelcare spokesman. "The site lies on the periphery of the central area and, as a consequence, the site is ideally located to meet local demand."
Since Glennfield residents are not car owners and are generally too frail and infirm to leave the grounds "proximity to bus routes, community facilities and shops is not important".
The company also said the redevelopment would be carried out "in such a manner that it can be adapted to changing needs and standards without major structural alteration or rebuilding".
