Residents angry over revised plans for old Melton hospital site housing scheme

Revised plans to build a four-storey block of apartments and demolish part of a listed wall on the site of the old War Memorial Hospital in Melton have angered residents who live nearby.
A view of the old War Memorial Hospital site in Melton, looking west across Ankle Hill towards Wyndham Lodge with the stables and listed boundary wall in the foreground EMN-190417-131852001A view of the old War Memorial Hospital site in Melton, looking west across Ankle Hill towards Wyndham Lodge with the stables and listed boundary wall in the foreground EMN-190417-131852001
A view of the old War Memorial Hospital site in Melton, looking west across Ankle Hill towards Wyndham Lodge with the stables and listed boundary wall in the foreground EMN-190417-131852001

Planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of the site in 2013 with a linear block of three-storey retirement apartments on the land between Wyndham Lodge and the stables, plus three detached properties to the south.

But the amended plans are for a four-storey block of 38 flats on land directly to the south of the stables, fronting Ankle Hill, and also now erecting six single-storey dwellings on the land between the lodge and the stables.

The new lay-out would require the demolition of a section of the listed garden wall.

Bob White, who lives on Ankle Hill, has written to the council to object.

He told the Melton Times: “All of us residents are appalled by the change, in that they are proposing to move what was going to be a small unit of flats situated at the rear of the stable block, to an area directly opposite us which we were originally promised would be a visual amenity, a parkland, for residents and people walking into town to enjoy.

“That is now to be destroyed, along with the demolition of a Grade 2 listed wall and a mature tree, in order to build a four-storey high block of apartments that can only be described as like a 1960s’ style monstrosity.”

Tom Webb, another resident who has written to the council to object, commented: “The developer proposes to demolish the old listed wall, uproot most of the remaining mature trees, destroy the attractive street scene of Ankle Hill, erase their own ‘Southern Parkland’ green space buffer, and then dominate Melton’s period listed Wyndham Lodge with the installation of a monstrous high density accommodation block.”

Applicant Wyndham Lodge Developments say in its new planning application that the revised plans are intended to enhance the look of the development.

It states: “Much of the (listed) wall has already been lost through neglect and vandalism.

“In order to site the apartments in a sympathetic manner, enhancing the setting of the principle listed buildings when compared to the previously approved scheme, what is left of the wall will need to be demolished.”