Kingsclere care home plans given the green light after successful appeal

Planning permission has been granted for the construction of a 50-bedroom care home in Kingsclere after a successful appeal.

Frontier Estates had its plans for the facility, which will be located on a patch of land between the A339 and Fawconer Road, refused by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council in September 2022.

The property investment firm appealed the decision, and the Planning Inspectorate allowed the appeal and granted planning permission on November 2.

The appeal decision report stated: “The care home would provide a timely and convenient opportunity for some people, including in Kingsclere or the parish, to fulfil present, imminent or future living and care needs.

“It would not fatally undermine or be manifestly out of kilter with holistic objectives of the neighbourhood plan and the Local Plan to meet older or elderly and infirm people’s living and care needs by a range of measures, so give choice for them to decide how best to meet their own needs.”

The plans were met with criticism from Kingsclere residents and parish councillors when they were first submitted in August 2021.

Those who criticised the plans believed the Hampshire village had no need for a care home, and the land should be used to build affordable homes for local people instead.