NEIGHBOURS in a road in Alcombe have hit out after plans for a ‘hospital’ facility catering for people with dementia was given the green light.

The new facility has a complex planning history, with a former residential bungalow being given permission to be converted into an assisted living annexe to the Dene Lodge Nursing Home.

However construction of the new building ceased in December due to the decision by Dene Lodge Nursing to use the new building for long term care of people suffering from dementia, referred from Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

The new amended proposal is to create a larger ‘hospital’ with bedrooms and en-suite wet-rooms, easier access corridors for the use of body hoist equipment, which proved impossible to incorporate into the shape of the approved building.

To the dismay of residents in Dunster Close who had been fighting the plans for three years, the scheme was approved by eight votes to three at the first planning meeting of the new Somerset and West Taunton Council in May.

Letty Green, who lives in the neighbouring bungalow, said: “We are not Nimbys and we are appreciative of the need for people with dementia to be cared for.

“But it needs to be the right development in the right place.

“We feel our concerns have been dismissed, and it is ridiculous this decision has been made in Taunton with a committee with just two West Somerset representatives on it and none from Minehead.

“We’ve objected, the town council has objected but this has gone through anyway.”

Nigel Padfield, who lives just up the road from the development, explained that the residents felt new facility would be significantly bigger than the initial bungalow which has now been demolished, and there was frustration at how the plans continually changed.

The residents also explained they felt a covenant stating the homes in the area should be kept for residential use had been ignored, and their homes were being devalued as a result of the new development.

“There are plenty of ways this development could have been done which would be more acceptable,” Mrs Green said.

However the SWT council officers believed there was a not a strong enough reason for the proposal to be turned down and recommended that the new facility be approved subject to a series of conditions.

In the officer’s report it stated: “The amended scheme is considered acceptable in terms of scale and appearance, and the proposal is not considered to cause any significant adverse impact on the character and appearance of the area in general.”

It also states that the proposed change of use is ‘considered acceptable due to the proximity and history of the site in connection with the Dene Lodge Nursing Home’.