A scheme to demolish the old Well House care home in Chestnut Way and replace it with a new 64-bedroom facility has been granted outline planning permission by Tendring District Council.
However, the company behind the proposal – Westcliff-based Essex County Care – has been told that demolition can’t begin until a “Demolition and Construction Method Statement” has been submitted to planners, detailing the measures it will take to control noise, vibration, dust, site vehicle parking, hours of operation.
Similarly, planners say that no work can commence until a series of “reserved matters” have been approved by planners. These include conditions relating to the access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the proposed two-storey building.
The council has also said that the development can only be used as a residential care home to ensure that control is retained over any alternative uses “in the interestes of the character of the area, residential amenities and the provisions of the Recreational Disturbance Avoidance Mitigation Strategy”.
Well House closed in 2018 after Essex County Care claimed that Essex County Council wasn’t paying a realistic rate for the residents it placed there. The company also said that modernising the building would have cost more than £2m. It was placed on the market in late 2020 – apparently remaining unsold – around a year after several mature trees surrounding the building were cut down.
