Holt: New Kelling Park care home housing plan revealed

The developer, Kelling Estate, has been forced to submit a new bid after a previous scheme to convert a care home behind Holt Garden Centre into eight homes was rejected. 

Under the new plans, a red brick building on the Kelling Park Care Home site will be converted into four homes, while other structures will be removed and replaced. 

Holt Garden centre (Image: Google)

The previous application, which would have seen all the current buildings on the site demolished, was turned down by North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) in early 2021. 

The developer then tried to appeal and overturn the decision with the government’s Planning Inspectorate. 

But in October last year, inspectors sided with NNDC and refused to let it go ahead. 

The latest scheme tries to address the concerns raised by councillors and inspectors in their rejections. 

While the inspectors praised the previous plans for utilising sustainable building techniques, contributing to the local economy and trying to meet a local housing need, they ultimately sided with the council. 

The inspector argued that NNDC's policies for the area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) provides "a clear reason for refusing the appeal scheme" and the rural nature of the homes would mean that the residents would have to travel by car. 

Changes include reusing parts of the building rather than complete demolition; they hope this will mean the perceived as less of an encroachment into the AONB. 

The developer said: “The re-use of brownfield sites to provide homes in areas of high demand is positively supported in national policy as part of the government’s proactive and flexible approach to delivering the homes the country needs."