A NEW care home is currently being considered as part of the ongoing development of the St Mary’s Garden Village estate in Ross-on-Wye, writes Ella Hamilton.

The residential care home is proposed to be located on a 0.68-hectare site to the east of the A40 and south of Starling Road, and aims to provide 70 bedrooms each with en-suite wet room bathrooms, designed for safety and accessibility.

Within the home, it is proposed there will be additional facilities such as hairdressers, a café and a cinema room as well as other communal areas.

This project is being led by Prime (UK) Developments Limited, a Worcester-based health and care property developer which have selected the town for this new development due to the shortfall of 106 beds in the Ross area and the need for a further 155 by 2041.

Heather Alexander, community engagement manager at Prime, said: “As our population ages and needs become more complex, we are seeing increased demand for care home spaces across the country.

“We are proud to develop vibrant care facilities that enhance the experience of residents and allow them to stay close to their family and community.”

Prime also aims to deliver an estimated 70 full-time equivalent permanent jobs to staff the care home, varying from high-level management positions to care workers and ancillary staff.

Within the larger St Mary’s Garden Village development, the construction of the proposed building would result in the loss of 0.62 hectares of informal open space. However, there would still remain an approximate 4.6 hectares of open space in the area, exceeding the legally required limit.

Prime have suggested to mitigate this loss further through financial contributions to improve the quality of pre-existing green spaces within Ross, by funding landscaping, planting, the creation of pathways and similar projects.

Surrounding the proposed care home, Prime also aims to include gardens, allotments, areas suitable for outdoor dining and a sensory garden with secure boundaries, such as the five-metre-wide landscape buffer on the eastern edge of the site, planned to be constructed from native trees and shrubs.

The proposal states: “The design approach for the care home has been to develop a building and landscape that creates a safe and pleasant environment for residents and staff,” and that ‘visual effects would be neutral, negligible or minor’, referring to the protection to local views that tree coverage will provide.

The company also aims to incorporate clean energy into their building, implementing air source heat pump technology and solar panels on top of the roof.

Despite this, volunteers from the Dark Skies Herefordshire project have voiced their concerns regarding the threat of additional construction near the wildlife wetland area on the St Mary’s estate, drawing attention to the importance of dark skies for both wildlife and humans.

Local residents were invited to a community engagement event at the Larruperz Centre in January to view the plans for the new care home.

Comments can be made on the application at Hereford Council’s planning portal using the number P250600/F.