Park Green care home approved

Plans for a 74-bed care home on Park Green have been approved.

The site, between Parsonage Street and Park Lane, had originally been The Towers, home to the London & Manchester Insurance Company and had later been the proposed site of a Lidl supermarket.

The home, to be run by Torsion Care Ltd, will provide residential care for the elderly and anyone needing dementia care.

Ward councillor Ashley Farrall, said the derelict site had attracted anti-social behaviour over the years and needed developing. He said the provision of a care home would help relieve pressure on the NHS and families struggling to access suitable care locally, but questioned the design of the care home which, he said “does not convincingly reflect the mill character of the area”.

“In a site this prominent, flanked by two conservation areas and listed buildings, the design should do more than simply gesture our heritage, it should embody it.”

Macclesfield Labour councillor Brian Puddicombe said the proposal better reflects the area than the unsightly block which had previously been on the site. He said the report to the committee stated there was a shortfall of nearly 400 care beds in the Macclesfield area.

“It’s a fact that Macclesfield has an ageing population, so this is needed and it’s good employment opportunities as well.”

Knutsford councillor Stewart Gardiner proposed the application be approved. He said he shared Cllr Farrall’s concerns about the design and asked that the ward councillor’s suggestion that soldier coursing be incorporated was taken up, as the applicant’s agent wasn’t opposed to it.