Care home with 64 beds in Pound Hill refused permission by Crawley Borough Council

The outline application, from Muller Property Group, to demolish number 1066 Balcombe Road and build on the half-acre site, was given the thumbs-down by the planning committee on Monday (April 24).

Officers laid out five reasons for the refusal, including concerns that the scale and massing of the proposed U-shaped building would be ‘detrimental’ to the look of the area and ‘unneighbourly’ to other homes.

Committee members agreed, raising a number of other issues.

One concerned number 1066 itself. The meeting was told that there was a proposal to locally list the building, offering it some protection from development, but this was yet to happen.

But the sticking point concerned the lack of space outside the home for residents to take the air.

With the site sitting so close to Gatwick Airport and noise being an obvious issue, Muller opted to add two conservatory style ‘winter gardens’ to the plans, which ‘will have the feel of being outside’.

The developer also proposed that windows be sealed to prevent any disturbance from noise – a suggestion planning officers described as ‘unacceptable’ – with a cooling/ventilation system being installed.

Richard Burrett (Con, Pound Hill North & Forge Wood), Jilly Hart (Lab, Ifield) and Sue Mullins (Lab, Langley Green & Tushmore) made their views on the matter very clear.

Mrs Mullins said: “We’re going to have 64 old people living in a very nice care home with very nice indoor gardens but with no access to outside space at all – and I find that rather concerning.”

Mr Burrett said of the conservatories: “[They] might have the feel of being outside but it’s not the same as being outside – it’s not the fresh air.

“Some of those people, who may not have relatives to take them out, may never leave the building.”

Mrs Hart added: “You get the impression that, once the residents move into this building, those that don’t have family and friends to take them out are never going to breathe fresh air again.

“Even in hospital you can open a window.”

To view the application in full, log on to planningregister.crawley.gov.uk and search for CR/2021/0685/OUT.