Approval recommended for new McCarthy & Stone development in Beverley despite objections

Objectors claim the McCarthy & Stone development, on the site of a derelict care home on Langholm Close, will be “overbearing” and appear as the largest development in views from York Road, The Hurn and the Westwood.

The plans include 51 apartments - 29 one-bedded and 22 two-bedded - with a residents’ lounge and restaurant or bistro, plus a 36-space car park on the former Westwood Park care home site.

East Riding Council planning officers believe it’s a “positive” opportunity to redevelop a “generously-sized” site. They recommend deferral for legal matters to be completed, then approval at a meeting on July 19.

But residents say the original 1970s building was primarily occupied by a smaller number of much less ambulant elderly residents and Langholm Close "cannot support this proposed influx of vehicular and pedestrian access".

Beverley Town Council says the “sheer bulk” of the building is a “significant overdevelopment” which will affect the quality of life for neighbours on a quiet lane, which has no street lighting or footpaths.

It says: “(The council) appreciates the need for independent living complexes to address an increasing aging population, it believes the scale and design of this development is inappropriate for the designated site.”

Beverley Civic Society also objects saying the issue “which has provoked many objections from members of the society has been the size and height of the proposed building”.

A total of 18 residents have written against, while there have been six letters of support welcoming the chance for senior citizens to buy somewhere central in Beverley.

Planners are proposing planning conditions to mitigate the impact of the development upon Langholm Close and the adjoining road network during demolition and construction.