Proposal to turn Grade II listed former care home in Ashington into flats rejected

Northumberland County Council officers knocked back the plans, which would have seen Moorhouse Farm Care Home in Ashington turned into 10 homes.

The former care home, which closed in 2019, was housed in an eighteenth and nineteenth century farmhouse and steadings complex, which is Grade II listed.

Proposals, submitted in 2020, would have seen the property converted into four single storey two bedroom homes, four three-bed duplexes, a two-bed duplex and one stand alone three bedroom house, with nine new parking spaces created.

Planners’ report said: “The proposed development fails to provide a scheme that responds to the character of the existing heritage asset and is therefore not considered appropriate development.

“The proposal also fails to provide adequate information with regards to flooding risk and site drainage, and impacts to residential amenity from surrounding developments or contaminated land.”

Officers welcomed the removal of a conservatory added when the buildings became a residential nursing home in 1994, but criticised its planned replacement with a new extension.

They also rejected the replacement of the original timber floors, which has already occurred, and their replacement with concrete, as well as labelling the proposed new rooflights and windows as “incongruous to the traditional farmstead character.”

Their report also said: “The applicant has not provided any details in respect of noise or odour sources from the nearby Ashington Grange Care Home and how these will impact on the proposed development, and has not submitted a desktop contaminated land assessment.”