Green light for Hettinga House care home plan

Jun 23 2011 by Janine Yaqoob, Ormskirk Advertiser

PLANS to turn a former Jospice site into a 52-bed specialist care home have been agreed by West Lancashire planning committee.

Stocks Hall Care Homes was last week granted planning permission to demolish and re-build Hettinga House on Dark Lane.

The new facility will offer specialist medical care for people with dementia, spinal injuries, stroke suffers and other conditions.

The home will have a separate, state-of-the-art leisure centre, available for use by the local community, including therapy pool, gym and spa facilities.

Hettinga House has been empty and disused since the closure of the St Joseph’s Hospice service in 2007.

The centre will be Stocks Hall’s second home in Ormskirk.

Sue Lace, Stocks Hall Care Homes managing director, said: “We are extremely pleased to have been granted planning permission to build at Hettinga House.

“We are always looking to progress and grow, and both the new site at Ormskirk and our new home at Mawdsley will continue to reflect the exceptionally high standards of care with which we have always been associated.”

Following the planning decision, Derby Ward Conservative councillor David Sudworth has called for a meeting with

the developers of Hettinga House over traffic and parking concerns.

He said: “I am concerned that 25 parking spaces will not be enough for a scheme which will have 48 beds and 130 staff, not to mention visitors to the premises and the ‘Life for A Life’ memorial garden in the grounds of the former hospice.

“Jospice worked because it was a small scale concern in comparison with what will now be built there, as it will be triple its size in terms of beds.

“There are genuine fears among residents over increased noise, traffic and pollution to the area and the new site operators have a duty to work with the local community to ensure that any problems are dealt with quickly.”