Care Home Agreed For Ex-Hotel Site

The former Rothsay Hotel is set to make way for a 60-bed nursing home for the elderly. Test Valley Borough Council’s northern area planning committee gave the scheme the go-ahead at their recent meeting.

The former hotel, located on the A342 Weyhill Road at Penton Mewsey, has had a chequered past and has beenempty since the mid-1990s when it was used as a hostel for construction workers working on the Newbury by-pass.

Barchester Healthcare, the applicant, offers care to the over 65, those in need of respite, dementia care, or intermediate care, and the young physically disabled.

Outline permission for a nursing home, including plans for a 58-space car park, was granted in October 2003.

Previous applications submitted by Covenant Healthcare, a separate company to Barchester, last year earmarked the building for use as a secure home for the mentally ill, which was refused.

Some 20 letters of objection were received, raising concerns with the countryside location of the hotel as inappropriate, questions over the type of care offered and the fact the site is under the Army flight path of Middle Wallop and several other issues.

Ian Marshall of the Rothsay Development Action Com-mittee spoke at the meeting, objecting to the plans on the basis of the size of the site and the affect on the local gap.

However Cllr Jim Neal said: “The sooner we get this hotel taken away and no more children injured, the better. It’s a super design.”

Cllr Ian Carr added: “I’m staggered this site hasn’t been developed before.”