A five-storey care home and a Co-op will be built in a village despite concerns over the future "eyesore" building.

Medway Council's planning committee has approved plans to create a large residents' home in Halling containing 88 apartments for over 55s.

It will be built on a former cement works site adjacent to Balancing Pond in St Andrews Park and gets the go ahead despite 113 objections, with opponents fearing the care home will become an eyesore and existing health services will be overrun.

Medway Council's head of planning Dave Harris said he backed the scheme, describing it as "well thought out" during the virtual public meeting.

However, Halling councillor Matt Fearn (Con) said: "The five-storey care home is totally out of keeping with the surrounding area."

Rapport Housing and Care and A N Development told Medway Council that the apartments will provide care to over 55s, who largely live independently but require some support and would like "peace of mind" in a safe setting.

The St Andrews site will include 36 one-bedroom and 50 two-bedroom apartments, some with balconies, and a roof garden. Around 50 of the 88 homes will be 'affordable', 25 will be shared ownership and 25 will have 'affordable' rents.

But Halling's ward councillor warned Medway Council's planning committee about concerns he had with the scheme.

Cllr Fearn raised concerns over a potential extra 140 patients "overwhelming" existing health services while warning about the noise impact of a separate application for a £13.3m zip wire attraction at the Blue Lake in Upper Halling.

In a letter read out to committee members, Cllr Fearn said: "The five-storey building care home is totally out of keeping with the surrounding area.

"There is one three-storey building in Halling and there are no buildings on St Andrews higher than three storeys."

Several planning committee members sided with him.

Cllr Chris Buckwell (Con) said he was "troubled" with the application while his counterpart, Cllr Richard Thorne (Con), added: "Something like a care home is needed in the area, that's definite, but what does concern me is the size of it."

Strood Cllr Stephen Hubbard (Lab) said he had no issue with the "prominence" of the building. He said: "The area is already dominated with overhead cables and pylons. For me that's more prominent than the proposed building."

Mr Harris said he deemed the size of the building "acceptable" but said officers had initial concerns about the "visual" impact.

He added following discussions with the applicant the development had been moved further away from the A228 Formby Road roundabout near Halling.

A key vote was held. Four of the seven committee members sided with the applicant and favoured pressing ahead with the scheme.

Under the plans, up to 30 staff will be hired and a four-to-five storey building will be built to include a roof garden area, kitchen, lounge, activities room, hairdresser's and club room.

Residents will live in their own flats and receive care for at least three-and-a-half hours a week.

A single-storey Co-op store with a 97-space car park will also be created directly opposite the care home, located to the west of A228 Formby Road.

The retail unit forms part of the care home application and the council received 23 letters of support with some saying the shop will reduce the need to travel for residents and others saying it is well needed in the area.

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