Plans to be unveiled for new retirement properties on former Melton nursing home site

Mccarthy and Stone, which specialises in building retirement homes, is holding the event, at Pera Business Park in Nottingham Road between 3pm and 7pm, to give more details to residents who live near the site, the old Catherine Dalley House on Scalford Road.

Those who attend will also be able to comment on proposals and their views will be taken into account before a planning application is made to Melton Council.

A spokesperson for McCarthy and Stone, which recently acquired an interest in the vacant site, declined to say how many properties would be built but he said it would be a mix of new-build apartments and bungalows.

The proposals also feature communal facilities, including a homeowners’ lounge, landscaped gardens and on-site car parking spaces.

The spokesperson said: “We have invited around 2,000 people who will be directly affected by the plans and this will be an opportunity to find out more about what we want to do with the site.”

Matt Wills, regional managing director of McCarthy and Stone, said: “We look forward to displaying our draft proposals before we finalise our planning application.

“We have worked hard to create a sensitive scheme that is in keeping with the character of the area.”

He added: “This proposal provides an opportunity to provide a positive regeneration of an under-utilised brownfield site, creating an attractive development that will address the need for retirement housing in Melton Mowbray.”

The company say the scheme will address the need to provide extra accommodation for over 65s with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) predicting that the local population in this age range will rise by 70 per cent over the next 25 years.

We reported in September that the former Catherine Dalley House site was being sold off for development with a guide price of £750,000. It was closed in March 2016 by Leicestershire County Council, which said it could not afford the £315,000 required to upgrade the home because of budgetary pressures at County Hall.

Go online at www.mccarthyandstoneconsultation.co.uk/meltonmowbray or call the freephone information line on 0800 2987040 for more information about the proposals. The public exhibition is open to anyone with an interest.