Plan to replace former bank with care home refused

Plans to knock down a former bank in Loughborough and build an 80-bed care home have been turned down.

Charnwood Borough Council has refused a planning application from Synergy Care Developments to redevelop the site of the former Barclays bank in Bishop Meadow Road.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said the banking chain moved out of the site in 2020 and planning documents state there had been "little to no serious interest in the property".

But a council report said the proposed scheme was in "close proximity" to a site which had hazardous substances consent and the authority found "the development would increase the number of people exposed to potential major accident hazards".

The care home was set to cater for people who require elderly residential, nursing and dementia care, the application said, adding there was a "considerable demand" for elderly and dedicated dementia care homes in the area.

The council report concluded while there was a "need for care bed spaces within Loughborough" it did not outweigh the "identified harms of the proposed development".

It said the Health and Safety Executive had objected to the plans citing "the risk to public health".

"Given that this is the case, it is concluded that the potential impacts to public health in the event of an explosion or incident, substantial negative weight is attributed against the proposed development," the report added.

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