Parish councillors worried by 'substantial' size of Holyport Lodge replacement

A total of 52 en-suite bedrooms with specialist facilities will house residents living with dementia.

Proposals include private resident patios, communal dining terraces and a sensory garden.

There will be 24 parking spaces, including two disabled spots and an ambulance bay.

The current care home has been vacant since 2019 because of ‘structural and health and safety issues’ and ‘severe asbestos risk’, according to a Bupa Care Homes architect.

He was speaking at a Bray Parish Council planning committee meeting on Monday, October 6 – in which parish councillors voiced multiple concerns about the project.

Possible parking strain and a perceived likely increase in HGV traffic during the reconstruction stage were among these.

Councillor Derek Wilson said: “We are concerned about the amount of weight limit on the heavy goods vehicle [HGV] traffic along Ascot Road.

“There is a 7.5 tonnage [limit] – and often that is not actually complied with.”

An Ascot Road resident also spoke at the meeting to say that, though he is not against the redevelopment, he also believes the application did not consider the number of lorries that would drive on ‘very narrow’ roads during the construction phase.

Chair of the parish council planning committee, Cllr Louvaine Kneen, seconded these concerns, saying:

“It’s not [about] speed, it’s the quantity of cars, lorries, and vans. …There really needs to be a clear plan of how [the road] can manage all these additional lorries.”

Cllr Kneen further highlighted issues over adding pressure to an already strained parking situation.

“Residents are really concerned because The Green will get used as overflow parking – and it is already used as overflow parking,” Cllr Kneen said.

Other councillors were concerned about the design of the care home, with Cllr Gurch Singh saying he did not think it was of a high quality.

“This building is very recognisable in Holyport and The Green and I think we should preserve that,” Cllr Singh said.

Cllr Nick Pellew agreed, saying that ‘in principle’ it is good that the care home site would be brought back into use, but he was concerned about the ‘substantial’ size of the new care home.

He said: “This building is about twice as big as the existing building.

“I think [the applicant] should do something with the design, I think they should slightly reduce the massing of it, and I would recommend that in a greenbelt conservation area we should be rejecting [the application].”

The site is part of Holyport’s conservation area – but because it has been previously built on, it instead falls within the Government’s new ‘greybelt’ classification, argues Bupa.

Nonetheless, Cllr Singh shared Cllr Pellew’s concerns, saying it was ‘overdevelopment’ of the greenbelt’ – and that he was ‘very concerned’ about this.

Ultimately, councillors objected to the plans and recommended it for refusal.