Retirement homes plan in Tadley approved

FORTY-TWO retirement homes will be built in Tadley after the plans were approved at appeal.

The ‘retirement living apartments’, along with communal facilities, car parking, a small retail shop and a service layby, will be built in New Road, on the site of Reading Warehouses.

McCarthy Stone had submitted the plans in 2018 and received the go-ahead from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council in November of the following year, but the application then stalled after the company and council disagreed on the method of the provision of affordable homes.

The plans went to appeal, to be decided by the planning inspectorate, and earlier this month the inspectorate gave the application the green light, subject to a cascade arrangement.

This arrangement means if on-site affordable housing can't be secured then a financial contribution would be provided.

McCarthy Stone Southern Division divisional managing director Shane Paull said: “We are delighted that our plans for much-needed retirement accommodation, alongside a retail unit and affordable apartments in Tadley have been approved at appeal by the planning inspectorate, who considered the council’s case unreasonable.

“Our plans will help meet an acknowledged and growing need for this type of accommodation in the area, whilst ensuring the continuity of the long-established retail use on-site.”

Under the cascade arrangement, in the first instance, five apartments would be transferred to a registered provider for 60 per cent of open market value.

If there were to be no interest from a registered provider, then cascade position two – offering five discounted market units (DMU) to qualifying people with an additional £100,000 commuted sum for off-site provision – would be made available.

If there were no demand from qualifying people then the borough council would have a choice of two options.

Cascade position three sets out that the DMUs would be made available to the market with a commuted sum of £100,000, while cascade position four sets out that McCarthy Stone would pay an affordable housing contribution of up to £202,326 prior to occupation of the market units.

The contribution would not necessarily be for affordable housing in Tadley, as the council, according to a report put together by the inspector, has indicated “it would not be possible to identify affordable housing schemes in the Tadley area where the total contribution as set out under cascade position four could be spent.”

However, the inspector continued: “I have not been provided with firm evidence that there are no affordable housing schemes to which this proposal could contribute.

“I appreciate that it would be preferable for financial contributions to contribute to affordable housing within Tadley.

“However, they would nevertheless contribute to affordable housing needs within the borough.”