A NEW 66-bedroom care home is set to be built as part of a housing development after the council approved the plans.

LNT Care Developments Limited is set to build the new care home off Broad Street, Green Road, Langford Road, and Maypole Road in Great Totham, near Maldon. 

The new care home is planned as part of the Westcombe Park Development by developer Bellway Homes, which includes 183 homes and 79 affordable homes, including options for affordable rent and shared ownership.

LNT Care Developments Limited has developed approximately 230 care homes over the last 30 years, equating to more than 15,000 quality care beds specifically providing for the care of older people across England, according to the plans. 

The plans include single bedrooms, each with en-suite wetrooms, "high-quality" amenity spaces, including cafes, bars, dining rooms, quiet lounges, family rooms, a library, garden room, cinema, and a hair salon. The building is also set to include "state-of-the-art" back-of-house and catering facilities, including staff showers and changing rooms. 

The proposals for the new care home also include 32 parking spaces, including two accessible parking spaces, six electric vehicle spaces, one motorcycle space and 16 cycle spaces. 

The plans state: "The objective is to provide a character of accommodation that would provide a higher quality of life for residents than more conventionally designed facilities. In addition, it is to provide accommodation respectful of the character and appearance of the area that makes best use of the site's most positive assets, attributes and aspects. The proposed development would be very much a local community facility. Residents of the home would be expected to emanate from an area no more than three miles from the site or be associated with families and relatives that reside within this same catchment. 

"The majority of the jobs created at the care home would also be expected to be filled by suitable candidates from the same local area.

"The proposed care home would provide an important local support service and offer high-quality care accommodation outside the local authority and primary care trust services and functions. In addition, the facility would not burden existing health and social care services, as there will be economies and efficiencies of scale for local health care practitioners, in visiting the elderly in need of care from the local area in this one location."