A NEW retirement village featuring a shop with co-working space above, a hall, bowls area and children’s play space has been proposed in Swansea.
The complex in Winch Wen would have 124 one and two-bedroom flats, plus an assisted living building with seven affordable units for people who require some care to remain independent but don’t need to be in a care home.
The 124 flats would be for people aged over 55 and also for staff working at the adjacent Hengoed Court nursing home and Hengoed Park residential care home. Six of the apartments would be classed as affordable housing.
(Image: Google Maps – The entrance to Hengoed Park care home and Hengoed Court nursing home off Cefn Hengoed Road, Winch Wen)
Rather than one or two large blocks, the flats would be in a series of two, two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half storey properties in landscaped streets, making it look more like a residential housing development. The materials and colour palette used in the properties would vary slightly.
The taller buildings would be set lower down the sloping site from existing properties on adjacent Cefn Hengoed Road.
A planning statement submitted on behalf the applicant, who owns the nursing and care homes, said: “The site is well-connected with the open space and woodland to the south and east by a number of accessible walkways which are open to residents of the existing care home, while a large lake lies immediately south of these features.”
The main access would be the existing one on Cefn Hengoed Road to the nursing and care homes, with a secondary access further along on the same road. There would be 164 parking spaces in total.
The planning statement said shared recreational spaces such as a community building, bowls area and boardwalk had been prioritised in the design.
The scheme has been reviewed at pre-application stage by planning officers and went out for consultation locally.
There were 15 responses from nearby householders and other residents. Some raised traffic concerns and were worried their outlook might be negatively impacted and the area’s semi-rural character potentially lost, while others welcomed the proposals.
One of the respondents said: “I fully support the plans for the care village, I have lived in the area all my life and think this would be a great asset to the local community.”
Another said they had seen a series of applications over the years, each one “seemingly bigger than its predecessor”, and the proposed development was “far too big and intrusive”.
The planning statement said the scheme was amended to remove a proposed nature park because it was in open countryside, along with other alterations such as more planting and bike spaces. The public will have the chance to comment on the new planning application.
Three years ago the council turned down proposals for a retirement complex with 70 flats and a community building and commercial floorspace at the same site.
The new scheme, said the planning statement, was similar in nature but had been revised to overcome the previous concerns.
(Drawing: by Noel Isherwood Architects – Proposed layout of the retirement village (left) at Winch Wen with the existing nursing home, care home and lake on the right)
