Recession puts £28m Southend ‘care village’ for elderly on hold

PLANS to build a new £28million “care village” for the elderly have been put on hold because of the recession.

The scheme is for Nazareth House, in London Road, Southend, which is currently an old people’s home. It is still hoped the scheme will go ahead when the economy improves.

The plans, which were given permission by Southend Council in August 2006, involve demolishing the building, which houses 65 people, to create accommodation for almost 200.

Home manager Chris-topher Springer said: “We do still want to develop it.

“The credit crunch hasn’t made things that easy at the moment, but we are still interested in doing it, hopefully in the near future.

“We got to the stage of a planning application.”

Mr Springer said issues of funding would be looked into when the plans proceeded further.

Nazareth House is run by the Congregation of the Sisters of Nazareth. The existing care home has two buildings which date back to 1872.

The new development would have a 47-bed care home, and 152 apartments, which would care for people with various needs.

There would also be communal facilities including a doctors’ surgery, restaurant, bar and therapy room.