A LOCAL authority overseeing a move to enable older people to live independently in their own homes looks set to press ahead with its multi-million pound plans for a market town, despite seeing a scheme rejected by planners.

North Yorkshire County Council’s leading members will next week consider a proposal to help fund a £12m extra care scheme off Queen Anne’s Drive in Bedale, which Hambleton District Council’s planning committee condemned in January, likening it to a prison block.

As well as the design, which features some three-storey elements at the highest point in the town, concerns had been raised about exacerbating traffic issues in an area which has previously seen a fatal accident.

At the January meeting Bedale councillor John Noone said while he supported the county council’s ambition to create extra care in the town, the proposal was in the wrong place.

He described the development’s design as “colossal”, “horrendous” and told the planning meeting the proposal was “entirely out of character” with the North Yorkshire town, before likening it to a prison wing. He said: “This huge building would be shoe-horned into a plot of land that is self-evidently not large enough to house it.”

It is understood the move to turn down the scheme by Galliford Try and Broadacres Housing Association stunned the developers and some county councillors.

Hambleton’s planning officers had recommended the scheme be approved, saying the benefits of the scheme in terms of the provision of much needed, affordable, extra care accommodation and the economic and wider social benefits of the proposal weighed heavily in favour of the proposed development.

They said the development of extra care has been proven to improve the “community offer” and also provides accommodation that allows people to live in the scheme with significant health and social care needs.

This would reduce demand on statutory social care and health services and provides residents with choice and control on how they live independently.

The development, featuring 15 one-bedroom, 36 two-bedroom and eight studio apartments, residents’ lounges, a meeting room, public café, hair salon and numerous other rooms, is seen as vital in addressing the fact that Bedale is the only market town in the district without an extra care development, which offers homes with access to on-site care and support services that can be tailored to the occupiers needs.

A report to the county council’s executive states Galliford Try and Broadacres had indicated their intention to appeal the planning committee’s decision.

The report states: “The development of the proposed extra care scheme will provide new high quality accommodation with care and support in Bedale. This will support the council’s ambition, as set out in the Care and Support Where I Live Strategy, to allow people to remain safe and independent in their own homes.”