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10
Jun
Council submits plan for £15.7m Harrogate care hub
North Yorkshire Council has submitted plans for a new £15.7 million care hub in Harrogate.
The council wants to create five 'care and support hubs' across the county as part of a wider £60 million scheme to tackle increased demand in the care sector.
The facilities, which would be owned by the council, will be built at locations where there is most demand, with the first to be opened in the Harrogate and Scarborough areas.
The Harrogate hub is proposed to be located on a brownfield site off Ainsty Road, next to St Robert's Catholic Primary School and Harrogate High School.
According to planning documents, the three-storey, 60-bed hub would provide specialist residential dementia care as well as short-term support for people leaving hospital, helping to reduce avoidable re-admissions and speed up rehabilitation.
An artist's impression of the proposed care and support hub to be developed in Harrogate.
It would also include 36 staff parking bays, 12 visitor bays, three wheelchair accessible spaces and two ambulance bays. Cycling spaces will also be provided.
A planning statement said:
The proposed development represents a significant investment in specialist care accommodation within the Harrogate area and responds directly to the growing demand for flexible care provision arising from an ageing population and changing healthcare requirements.
The council said previously that the new care home is required as it faces increased demand on its health and adult care budget.
According to a council report, one of the main drivers for the intervention is “the requirement to purchase increasing levels of high-cost specialist older people’s residential care in the independent care sector”.
The council’s strategy is to invest in a new facility to provide care, which is estimated to save £3.7 million a year in the long run.
Meanwhile, the new hub would replace the council’s existing care home on Station View in Harrogate, which was built in 1981.
An authority report said the existing facility is in need of substantial investment to remain safe and operational, with maintenance costs already exceeding £300,000 over four years and a further £1.9 million of repairs and fire safety works expected in the coming years.
Should the plan be approved, construction work on the new hub is earmarked to start in June 2027.
The council will make a decision on the plan at a later date.
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