Plans have been submitted to turn a former care home in Tottington into 19 apartments.

An application has been put forward to convert the Walshaw Hall Care Home site on Bradshaw Road, previously known as "The Beeches", a 56-ensuite bed facilities into apartments.

The applicant of the plans is Capstone Care Limited.

A statement with the plans state: “Since the Walshaw Hall Care Home opened in 2016, Walshaw Hall continued to operate, but the shortcomings of the older, converted care home soon became evident and occupancy rates fell to unsustainable levels.

“The decision was taken in 2019 to close Walshaw Hall.

“The subsequent Covid pandemic further reinforced the appropriateness of closing the original home due to not meeting Capstone Care’s operational requirements or standards.

“As such the care operator wishes to utilise the vacant space to contribute to identified housing growth needs, satisfying planning policy requirements through redevelopment of an existing building for residential use with minimal alterations to the internal and externals of Walshaw Hall.”

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As the building stands vacant, a crime impact statement was prepared in support of the conversion with it being argued that bringing the site back into use would represent a significant reduction of crime risk.

A small number of structural alterations will be made and external changes will be minimal, the plans state.

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The ground floor will be converted to 10 apartments with a mix of one and two bedrooms.

And the first floor will be converted into seven apartments, also a mix of one and two bedrooms.

Two more apartments will be located on the second floor and there will be a total of 43 parking spaces.

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The site lies on green belt land but the plans state: “The proposal does not extend the building’s current footprint or increase its massing or bulk.

“There is a very small refuse store proposed as part of the scheme, but this is located near the main existing building and is required as part of the proposed.

“As such, the green belt’s openness is preserved through the proposal.”

A date when the decision will be made has not yet been set.

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