Plans to demolish a vacant nursing home in Hatch End and replace it with a new 24-bedroom care facility have been formally approved by Harrow Council.
The plans relate to Oakleigh House Nursing Home at 10 Oakleigh Road, where the existing building will be demolished and replaced with a new care home.
The council’s decision notice, dated 30 September 2026, confirms that planning permission has been granted subject to conditions.
The new building will include a basement, two main storeys and habitable roofspace, along with a replacement outbuilding, landscaping, refuse storage and car and cycle parking.
Two existing vehicle accesses onto Oakleigh Road will be closed and replaced with a new vehicle access, while a new pedestrian entrance will also be created.
24 bedrooms planned
Harrow Council’s planning policy team said the development is expected to provide 24 en-suite bedrooms over three storeys, along with communal areas including lounges and dining spaces, as well as two staff units.
The same council comments said the care home had been vacant since 2018 and no longer met modern standards. The site also has an existing planning permission for eight two-bedroom flats.
Planning policy officers said the proposal would help meet the housing needs of Harrow’s ageing population.
Residents raised concerns
The plans attracted objections from neighbouring residents, with concerns raised about the size and massing of the proposed building and its potential impact on daylight.
One objection described the proposed development as a “large, bulky building not in keeping with the street scheme” and argued that it would be considerably larger than the existing nursing home.
Residents also commissioned their own daylight assessment.
Their consultant said tests using the existing building as the baseline showed a material impact on a number of rooms at a neighbouring property, including ground and first-floor rooms.
However, the daylight and sunlight assessment submitted on behalf of the applicant compared the proposal with a previously approved development on the site.
That assessment concluded that neighbouring properties would receive comparable levels of daylight and sunlight and that there would be no material change compared with the previously consented scheme.
Security and noise conditions
The Metropolitan Police also raised security concerns during the planning process, including the positioning of gates, cycle storage and refuse facilities.
As part of the approval, evidence of Secured by Design certification must be submitted before the development is occupied, or justification provided where accreditation requirements cannot be met.
Conditions have also been attached covering landscaping, boundary treatments, cycle storage and noise.
Harrow Council’s Environmental Protection Team raised no objection on noise grounds, subject to measures including a 70% operating limit in the assessed worst-case scenario, acoustic mitigation and post-installation noise verification.
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