Ruling on new Oldbury care home after concerns raised about size of ‘small’ rooms

The planning application to convert the flats at 63 to 65 Rood End Road, Oldbury, opposite Rood End Primary School, into a 17-bed care home was rejected by Sandwell Council’s planning committee over concerns about the size of the facility’s bedrooms and garden.

Councillors said they were concerned that elderly and vulnerable residents would have to sit outside in a ‘car park’ and would not be big enough to cater for all. The committee also voiced its concerns that the care home’s bedrooms would be too small and had reservations about adding to existing traffic and parking problems on Rood End Road and the surrounding streets.

The application attracted 19 objections from neighbours with many concerned about the lack of parking on the busy and already congested road.

At the meeting in Oldbury last Wednesday, Emily Horton, speaking on behalf of the objectors, said there had been several accidents in Rood End Road already and parking spaces were at a premium when competing with residents and the primary school.

“Our issue is that parking as it is now, and it’s on a main road, it’s on a bus route, that something will happen. I dread to think [what would happen] if I had kids and let them out.”

Manny Singh, speaking on behalf of the applicant, said the number of people in the building would be similar if not lower than its current capacity as flats.

Despite the level of opposition, Sandwell Council’s planning officers recommended that the application should be approved. The council’s highways officers raised no objections and said the proposed 11 parking spaces were enough.

A decision that was supposed to have been made by councillors in September was delayed to allow the planning committee to visit Rood End Road.

The objectors criticised the plan saying it did not provide enough parking spaces which would cause further congestion in the ‘already suffering’ Rood End Road which led to councillors voting to defer ruling on the plans.

The original plan proposed 18 rooms and 12 parking spaces but one bedroom was removed to fit in a larger communal area following feedback and an extra parking space was also scrapped to provide a bigger outdoor space for residents than originally planned.

A statement included with the application said: “The proposed development is in response to an ageing population in the region and the applicant is seeking permission to provide a ‘high standard care’ living accommodation for able-bodied and frail adults.

“The applicants have first-hand experience in the healthcare industry and have worked in the field of nursing and care.

“The applicant, Mrs Kaur, is an experienced care nurse and her husband has over 20 years of building work experience in the construction industry, and he himself built the existing premises from new. In keeping with sustainability and ‘zero carbon’ targets, the applicant will only change the use of the existing building and no new build will be introduced as part of the scheme put forward.”

The application said the new care home would bring many employment opportunities but did not specify how many jobs would be created.

The flats were built in 2008 by the current applicant on the site of a former garage – filling the gap between the row of terraced houses on Rood End Road. Earlier plans for a three-storey apartment block were met with criticism from Sandwell Council and a compromise was eventually made to fill the gap in the road with a smaller building.