A spate of newly approved Belfast care homes is vital to address the needs of an ageing population across the city, particularly in the east, planners have explained.
Two of the applications courted controversy in the chamber on Tuesday evening.
Sinn Fein pushed through plans to convert the Stormont Hotel site into a huge care home and assisted living complex, despite opposition from local residents and politicians.
The applications got through on knife-edge votes in the chamber.
This week Belfast City Council’s planning committee approved four major applications relating to care homes and assisted living quarters for the elderly.
Three development are in east Belfast: the old Netherleigh House close to the Stormont Estate, and two at the Stormont Hotel.
The fourth is at Halifax House in the Gasworks in south Belfast.
One of the planners involved with Netherleigh House, former headquarters of the Department for the Economy, said there “was a chronic shortage of beds for an ageing population”, and the city is already 820 beds short for elderly members of the public in need.
CGI image of the residential and nursing care facilities in Netherleigh House
The first Stormont Hotel application involves the change of use from hotel, conference centre and offices to a 97-bed care home and 1,559 square metre diagnostic medical facility, with associated access, car parking, landscaping and open space.
The site is the still-functioning 105-bed Stormont Hotel on the Upper Newtownards Road, close to Parliament Buildings.
The second application involves outline planning permission for independent living units and up to 62 assisted living units, as well as associated internal access roads, communal open space, revised access and car parking, and landscaping.
The plan involves the demolition of a host of dwellings at Castleview Road and Summerhill Parade.
The applicant for both is Summerhill Retirement Developments Ltd in Belfast.
The council received 47 third-party representations from 26 people, all of whom objected to the scheme.
Objectors and councillors opposed the closure of a tourist offering, and said car parking for the new facility would overwhelm residential areas.
A representative for the applicant told the committee: “Retirement living has become a highly sought after housing requirement across the city, not least in this part of Belfast.
“East Belfast has a very high level of population over the age of 65, much higher than the average across the rest of the city.”
Two other major applications relating to elderly care were passed at the Planning Committee, without controversy.
In the Gasworks area, councillors unanimously approved a proposed change of use from offices at the Halifax Building at Cromac Place to a nursing home comprising 156 bedrooms.
CGI image of the nursing home development in Cromac Place
The application, by the Healthcare Ireland Group, Holywood, includes an ancillary scanning unit and all associated accommodation including dining and café areas, day rooms and lounges, a hairdressers, cinema rooms, treatment rooms and internal courtyard. The proposal also includes ancillary offices, landscaping, and cycle parking.
The five-storey office building is currently vacant. Healthcare Ireland says the proposal represents an investment of £16m to the local economy, with the potential for 80 to 100 construction jobs and creation of 180 permanent employment positions.
Only NI Water objected from the list of statutory consultees, and council planning officials recommended the application for approval. There were no third party objections.
A plan to convert the former headquarters of Stormont’s Department for the Economy into a nursing home was also approved at the planning committee on Tuesday.
Councillors unanimously approved the conversion of the listed Netherleigh House and existing blocks, at Massey Avenue, east Belfast, to a nursing home, and the erection of assisted living apartments over two four-storey blocks. The site is currently vacant.
The residential and nursing care facility plan involves extensions to an existing office block, including a fourth storey floor, eastern and western gable extension and two front projections from the northern elevation.
The proposed development overall will provide 209 one bed residential units and 36 assisted living apartments.
Netherleigh House
Further works will include new site parking, landscaped amenity areas, and woodland trails across the six acre site. The applicant is Y3 Care Ltd, of Holywood.
Council planning officials recommended the application for approval, while NI Water objected to the plan. The council received one letter of objection and one letter of support from third parties.
The planning officer’s report states: “Policy states that planning permission will be granted for the change of use of a listed building where this secures its upkeep and survival and the character and architectural or historic interest of the building would be preserved or enhanced.
“The new use of residential and nursing care is considered appropriate for Netherleigh House and will bring the vacant building back into use which ensures that the architectural and historic interest of the building is preserved.
“Although the proposal does not include any extension to Netherleigh House itself, it includes various extensions and alterations to the existing built form on site which is attached to the listed building along with two new build assisted living units and are consequently subject to the same level of statutory protection.”
Alliance councillor Hedley Abernethy asked at the committee meeting: “How do we assess the need for nursing care facilities?
“It seems everyone must be getting sick in east Belfast, because we seem to be getting more of these facilities.”
An agent for Y3 Care Ltd replied: “We highlighted in our submission that in the 2021 census, data obviously shows there is an ageing population.
“We highlighted stats around the need for specialist residential and nursing dementia services, all which will be offered in the Netherleigh House proposal.
“The council’s own team states there is an additional need for another 820 bed spaces in residential care homes during the planned period of the Local Development Plan.
“The council’s LDP team is supportive of this proposal and that we have demonstrated that there is a need for the proposal.”
He said there was “a chronic need and a chronic shortage of beds”.
A council officer said: “The local development plan identifies the need for beds, and we take that statement of need and consult. The consultation response said there was a fall in nursing bed care due to certain homes closing since 2015.
“We had a baseline of 820 beds, but we have identified that due to those closures but there are probably more than that. And we certainly haven’t exceeded that in terms of any of the applications we have seen so far.”
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