Havant care home set for major expansion with more bedrooms and jobs

A 66-bedroom care home, at the former Forty Acres site in Havant Road, has been granted planning permission to reconfigure its internal floorspace to provide five more bedrooms, taking the total to 71, but there won’t be an increase in the building’s footprint.

Three communal ground floor rooms – a library, activities room and a quiet space – as well as a quiet lounge and an ‘IT learning zone’ on the first floor, will be turned into bedrooms. A roof plant will also be created on top of the building and screened with Louvred grilles that will be visible from the ground.

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The additional rooms mean three more staff will be employed increasing from 60 to 63, council documents said. Two more car parking spaces will be needed because of the increase in bedrooms, taking the total from 28 to 30. Two more cycle bays will be created for staff, taking the total to 10.

Havant Borough Council’s planning committee heard from a local resident at a meeting (July 9) that their main complaint was about the impact of parking by visitors and staff on the area. Parking and access from Westways was brought up by Councillor David Keast (Con, Cowplain) who said it was human nature to find easy places to park and remembered distinctly that pedestrian access should remain and not be used as parking.

Councillor Elizabeth Lloyd (Con, Stakes) said she wanted to be reassured that the ‘cycle access’ near Westways had been ‘blocked up’ and was not being used as parking by staff and visitors to the home. But the pair were told by a council officer that it was not part of the material planning issues for consideration and it was not debated.

The original planning consent at the Forty Acres site was for 320 new homes, a 66-bed care home, public open space, a habitat mitigation zone, allotments, closure of existing access and two new access points following demolition of existing buildings. In 2021, 34 more new homes were approved, taking it to a 354-home site at the Forty Acres.