RESIDENTS have been left "frustrated" after plans for a four-storey care home at a new housing development were recommended for approval.

Objectors told a meeting of Halton Council's development control committee on Monday that the block of 100 "extra care" apartments was "completely inappropriate" and out of keeping with the surrounding village where most buildings are only two storeys high.

Bernadette Tarry, clerk of Sandymoor Parish Council, told the meeting that the parish council supported the 236-home development "in general", but objected to the care home.

She said: "It will totally dominate the landscape.

"Sandymoor Parish Council supports the development in general but the size and the mass of this 100-bed care home is totally out of character with Sandymoor."

The care home would sit on the eastern edge of the development, which is proposed for land on either side of Keswick Brook between Sandymoor village and the west coast railway line.

Resident Ian McIntosh, who also spoke against the plans, said this was contrary to assurances given by Homes England that this edge of the development would mirror the two-storey houses of the existing development on the neighbouring site.

He said: "The extra care scheme was never part of the Sandymoor masterplan. All the land has only ever indicated private housing."

Both Mr McIntosh and Ms Tarry also questioned whether there would be sufficient demand for 100 extra care apartments, given around 45 flats for the over-55s were also expected to be built as part of the village centre plan.

However, councillors pointed to Halton's ageing population as a justification for more assisted living accommodation.

Cllr Chris Carlin said: "There is a need for this. We are going to have 10,000 more older people.

"In Halton as a borough, we are an ageing population more than most."

A representative of developers Galliford Try added that the position of the extra care apartments "will ensure that the residents of these apartments will live alongside other residents rather than on the periphery".

Councillors voted to delegate the final decision on the plans to the head of the council’s planning department and committee chair Cllr Paul Nolan, as there were further details to be worked out to ensure neighbouring woodland was protected.

However, the committee indicated that, as long as these issues were resolved, it expected the plans to be approved.

After the meeting, Mr McIntosh told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "It's frustrating.

"I've been a resident of Sandymoor for 26, 27 years. We were always given assurances that the ride would be replicated so it would be houses, not a care home.

"There's no research to show it's needed."

The committee had also been due to discuss an application to build a housing estate on the site of a former ICI chemical plant, but deferred debating those plans after receiving late representations from a neighbouring business that required more time to be considered.