Light can finally be seen at the end of the tunnel for a long awaited £4 million project to replace the former Edenside care home at Appleby with extra care housing for local elderly people.
The Oaklea Trust has been granted approval to demolish the former 30-bed care home and erect 16 extra care apartments and communal facilities in its place.
Clive Wigley, chief executive of the Oaklea Group, said they were delighted that, at long last, its planning application for the redevelopment of the former care home had been approved, subject to the signing of a legal agreement.
“This project, when up and running, will give local people a much-needed housing resource for those in advancing years. Our development brings together desirable accommodation with varying levels of care and support to suit individual needs,” said Mr Wigley.
The idea is for the flats, once built, to be made available on an affordable rent basis.
In the meantime, Mr Wigley said they would like to work with the Environment Agency to see if there was any scope for the site to be used as a temporary car park — once demolition of the building has taken place — to help the town out while the proposed flood work is ongoing.
Work is set to get underway in autumn on a flood risk management scheme which could take Appleby’s Broad Close car park out of action for up to 20 months.
Edenside, in Appleby’s Holme Street, has remained unoccupied since Storm Desmond in December 2015.
It was closed by its then owner, Cumbria County Council, in September 2016, following a long battle by the community and local organisations, supported by the Herald, to keep the home open, as part of a Bring Edenside Home campaign.
In November 2017, the Appleby community was asked to throw its weight behind a bid to reopen the former Edenside care home as an elderly residential care facility.
As part of the campaign, Appleby Town Council successfully had the building registered with Eden District Council as an asset of community value. This meant it could not be sold on the open market without community groups first being given six months to put a purchase plan together.
In December, 2018, The Oaklea Trust became the owner of Edenside and Mr Wigley said it hoped to spend just shy of £1 million on buying and redeveloping the building to keep it for elderly care in Appleby.
But following lengthy delays and cost rises, it is now a £4 million project.
The Edenside application was the last to be discussed at the final Eden Council planning meeting before the authority is replaced by Westmorland and Furness next month.
Councillors were told that the plan included 12 one-bedroom apartments, four two-bedroom apartments along with one bedroom for a member of staff, totalling 21 beds.
As the site was within a flood zone, close work had been carried out with the Environment Agency to achieve a scheme considered to be acceptable in terms of flood protection.
This includes the requirement of a flood warning and evacuation plan, raising the floor levels above the Storm Desmond flood level, and underfloor voids beneath the building for flood water and storage of flood flow routes, the meeting was told.
