New housing development approved on a former borough care home site

Beechcroft Care Home in Nursery Avenue, West Hallam. Photo by Eddie Bisknell.

By Eddie Bisknell – Local Democracy Reporting Service

Plans to build homes on the site of a Derbyshire care home that closed because of council budget cuts have been approved.

At an Erewash Borough Council meeting last night (Wednesday, March 11th), councillors unanimously backed the proposal from RBSL Developments to build 20 houses on the former Beechcroft care home site in Nursery Avenue, West Hallam.

Beechcroft was closed by Derbyshire County Council in 2022, under the previous Conservative administration, alongside six other homes, despite significant opposition, due to a combined repair backlog of £31 million.

It was demolished by the applicants last year.

The meeting was told that all the homes would be semi-detached, including 18 three-bed houses and 2 two-bedroom houses.

It heard that the applicant had applied not to build any affordable housing, saying this “threatened” the viability of the development in the leafy Derbyshire village.

However, an assessment found headroom for two affordable homes, which the applicant has agreed to provide.

George Machin, agent for the applicants, said the scheme had been “a long time coming”, having started discussions in late 2024, and was a “sustainable brownfield development”.

He said: “It will include 20 high-quality new homes in a highly sustainable location. It will make a meaningful and immediate contribution to the borough’s housing supply and is an effective use of a well-located site.”

Mr Machin said the development would include “street trees” and “generous gardens”.

He said there was already interest from housing developers, saying the estate would be “delivered promptly”.

Cllr Andrew Prince said: “It is nice to see variation of housing styles and roofing styles, and it is refreshing to be able to vote for housing on brownfield and not green space, open space or a paddock.”

Cllr Harrison Broadhurst, chairman of the meeting, said: “I feel very positively about this application. It is exactly the sort of thing we want to see at this committee, and I am very excited about it.”

The county council had said that even if the repairs were carried out, Beechcroft and the other homes were “no longer fit for purpose and do not have the space, facilities or capability to be adapted to provide high quality care for older people with increasingly complex needs”.

The council had said the proposed closure of the seven homes could boost the authority’s budget by £7.6 million, though this did not include potential profits from selling the sites, security for the sites while closed, or potential redundancy payouts for staff.

Beechcroft had been rated “good” by the Care and Quality Commission in March 2022, months before its closure.