Witney: haven for the retired? (From Witney Gazette)

Witney: haven for the retired?

9:00am Wednesday 29th November 2006 in Witney By Rosalind Miles

A RETIREMENT village could be built on land next to the Witney bypass.

A 'care village', including serviced care suites, apartments and bedrooms, a restaurant, cafe, and bowling green, is proposed for land at Coral Springs, adjacent to Curbridge Road and Thorney Leys Road.

It is designed to accommodate up to 170 elderly people in a landscaped estate with an auditorium and IT suite.

Richmond Villages say they expect to put in a planning application to the district council in the next few months.

Managing director Keith Cockell said: "There is a chronic shortage of care beds for older people in Oxfordshire. It's an ageing timebomb, and analysis of the district's growing retirement population against the provision of care beds shows that unless facilities are created soon, the elderly in the community will have nowhere to go, adding tremendous burdens on the overstretched NHS."

The company say about 90 full- and part-time jobs will be created for local people.

"It's just like St Mary's Mead in Witney. Personally, I think it looks like an absolutely great facility. What I particularly like is they have careful attention to where the access road goes, it's on the top of Curbridge Road, and so doesn't infringe on the roundabout and shouldn't create traffic."

Witney mayor Chrissie Curry

Prices for apartments in the village - which can be bought or rented - are not yet known. There would be service charges, including all meals, utility bills, laundry, and cleaning - this would be approximately £250 per week. Personal care from a care agency based at the site would be about £10 per hour.

Witney mayor, Chrissie Curry, said: "It's just like St Mary's Mead in Witney. Personally, I think it looks like an absolutely great facility. What I particularly like is they have careful attention to where the access road goes, it's on the top of Curbridge Road, and so doesn't infringe on the roundabout and shouldn't create traffic.

"I think it would be a good use of the land. We do have a growing older population. It's not only the younger families we need to look out for, the older people in society must not be forgotten. They need looking after, and need affordable homes. It sounds like it would be a valuable asset to the community."

Richmond Homes, which has built retirement villages around the country, exhibited plans for the village in Burwell Hall, Thorney Leys, last Friday and Saturday.

Many people visiting the exhibition welcomed the idea.

Martin Draper, 68, of Beechgate, Witney, said: "I should imagine it's a thing that's required in the area. When you get old, you don't want to travel. Having shops and the doctors all in one place, I think it's a brilliant idea."

Sandra and Andrew Aldridge, of Standlake Close, said it would be the perfect solution for their parents.

Mrs Aldridge, 58, said: 'Mum's in her 80s, and her health has recently deteriorated. She has had to go into a nursing home quite far away. My dad is having to drive hundreds of miles three times a week to see her.

"This would be absolutely magic for them. If they could be together living in the same place, but with her getting the care she needs, it would be ideal."

David Miles, 40, of Curbridge Road, said: "The one doubt is do people really want to live right next door to the bypass. It could be very noisy."