Plans for an adult day centre at the site of a former school in Hertfordshire have been approved, following a meeting of the county council’s development control committee.
The approved plans will see the construction of a new adult day centre in the former playing fields of the Sir James Altham school site in South Oxhey.
It will replace the exisiting Northwick Day Centre on Northwick Road in the neighbourhood.
According to a planning officers’ report: “The Northwick Day Care Centre provides services for adults with physical and learning disabilities, mental health problems and age-related conditions.
“The existing Northwick Day Centre buildings are dated and require extensive repairs to make them suitable for continued use. The buildings do not meet current and future requirements for its service users, staff and stakeholders.
“Relocation of the day centre to the Sir James Altham School would create a new purpose built facility better suited to its user needs.
“The application site has been identified as a suitable site to relocate the existing day centre and to construct a new high-quality day care facility. The proposed site is less than 1km from the existing day centre site and relocation would ensure that the service can remain within the South Oxhey area.”
The site is located on land to the east of Lytham Avenue, and will neighbour Oxhey Jets football clubhouse – which is to be retained “with an appropriate level of car parking and ease of access for staff and spectators”.
The plans will require the demolition of a disused bungalow on the site, which formerly housed Homeoaks Group Home.
The report added: “The [bungalow] has been affected by subsidence and has been unoccupied (for 10 years), plus the creation of a new vehicular access from Lytham Avenue, car parking, landscaping, and associated infrastructure and flood attenuation.”
Cllr Fiona Guest, deputy chairman of the committee, said: “I see that the existing bungalow has had subsidence. The land issues that caused subsidence to the bungalow – could there be a problem with this development?”
In response, principal planning officer Chay Dempster said the bungalow has been been unused for approximately ten years and any further explorations into subsidence were expected to be carried out by the developer as part of their “due diligence”.
Councillors unanimously voted to approve the plan.
Stewart Carr is a Local Democracy Reporter covering stories from across Hertfordshire, including politics, policing, transport, housing, planning and major local developments. His reporting focuses on the decisions and issues shaping communities across the county, from council meetings and regeneration projects to public services and accountability.
