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Economic Development

Moundsley Hall Nursing Home threatens legal action over development block

Care home company wants to build £6.5 million complex but has hit planning wall

Moundsley Hall Care Home

A care home company is threatening legal action against Birmingham City Council if plans for a new 60-bed facility in Sutton Coldfield are not approved.

The chairman of Moundsley Hall Nursing Home claims the firm has bent over backwards to satisfy planning officers before submitting its proposals for the home in Penns Lane.

But the plans for a £6.5m care home are recommended for refusal when the planning committee meets this week, with officials concluding the scale and design of the building would result in 'a dominant and incongruous building at odds with the character of the area'.

Resident groups, local councillors, the town's MP Andrew Mitchell and Sutton Coldfield Civic Society have all made formal objections to the development, claiming the busy road could not cope with extra traffic generated and that a large care home was not appropriate in a mostly residential area.

Two large family homes on site, numbers 63 and 65 Penns Lane, were demolished last year.

In 2008, planning permission was granted for a 61-bed care home and 11 houses on a larger site covering four properties - numbers 61 to 67.

There was widespread local opposition back then but senior planning officers doubted refusal would be defended on appeal.

Moundsley chairman Mike Gimson has now accused the council of bowing to the 'not in my back yard' (NIMBY) lobby and argued the development complied with all planning policies and met with the growing demand for care home places.