Green light for ‘homely’ 71-bed Shropshire care home
A new dementia and nursing-care facility will be built on the edge of Newport in Shropshire, after planners at Telford & Wrekin Council gave the scheme the thumbs up today (23 October).
The three-storey development, put forward by London-based Zephyr X, will see a 70-bedroom care home built near the A41 opposite the Mere Park garden centre, just inside the town’s eastern fringe.
The application replaces an existing planning consent granted in 2014, which approved the construction of 66 assisted-living units on the site, now set to be replaced by “more traditional” care home bed-spaces, which the developer says are in greater demand.
“The current demand for assisted living units in Newport is far outweighed by the demand for traditional care home bedspaces, particularly those with specialist dementia care,” said a supporting statement submitted with the scheme.
“The demand for assisted living units has reduced since the care village consent was granted in 2014, with similar bedspaces having come
forward in the interim.
“The proposal provides high levels of care and services, with on-site ‘town centre’ facilities such as the shop, hair salon, bar, activities rooms and physiotherapy room etc. The provision of facilities and services on-site is designed to meet the needs of its more ‘site bound’ residents, enabling them not to feel isolated.”
Once completed, the facility will be operated by Bracebridge Care.
The scheme forms part of a wider care development currently under construction on a 12-acre former agricultural site, with a separate care facility made up of 61 apartments and 15 bungalows being built by McPhillips on behalf of specialist care home firm Untold Living.
Zephyr says it plans to work “closely” with Untold Living to “better meet local needs and enable this care village to deliver a continuum of care within a single community.”
Telford & Wrekin Council’s highways team initially lodged an objection to the scheme on the basis that the parking numbers provided were unacceptable, with a supplied site plan also described as “quite generic”.
As a condition of the scheme, a staffing model must be provided to the local authority prior to the start of works, to make sure parking for the site does not spill over onto nearby residential streets.
The application was granted subject to conditions on Wednesday, 23 October.
Planning consultants for the scheme were London-based Westbourne Planning. Architects for the proposals were Telford-based care home specialist, AP Architecture.
Documents relating to the application are available to view online on Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning portal, using reference number: TWC/2025/0225
