Residents vow to fight 'oversized' development

An application to demolish the lodge and rebuild it, still as a nursing home but with more care facilities, has been registered with the council by housing association Hanover Housing.

Joan Fenwick, whose house backs onto Rotary Lodge, said: "We are very much objecting to this application. The new building will be larger and we will probably lose some light as the building is higher and further towards us. We may also lose some privacy.

"What we would be reasonably happy with was what we thought the application would be for - new buildings built to exactly the same size as the existing one.

"We want to see something that is not as large or as encroaching as this application."

The proposal is for the demolition of existing buildings and erection of 40, numbered, extra care one and two bedroom flats with ancillary accommodation.

David Shackley, from Hanover Housing, said: "The footprint of the building will be within a metre of all existing boundaries. We have been very careful not to get much closer to neighbouring properties."

He said it would be a four-storey building which would be slightly higher due to slightly higher ceilings - each floor would be about 1m taller.

Mr Shackley said the new flats would be "physically bigger" than the current ones, but there would be fewer of them.

The application is expected to go before the council's planning committee in June.