Developers seeking to build extra care accommodation in York have lost their appeal, with the planning inspector branding it’s design as ‘alien.’

McCarthy Stone and Henry Boot Developments sought to build the accommodation, including 70 flats and decked car park, on the car park area of the Chocolate Works in Bishopthorpe Road.

The scheme sought to deliver much-needed specialist accommodation, including a residents lounge, bistro, laundry room and charging room for mobility scooters.

Typically, its residents would be aged over 80 still wanting independence, but able to access more community facilities as their frailty increases.

The developers brought the action last year against City of York Council for not determining the planning application, which was first submitted in December 2020.

The council told planning inspector Ken Taylor it had concerns about the scheme including its impact on the character of the area, the type of building proposed, it’s impact on local GP services and whether or not the site was in the Green Belt.

In his January 11 decision, Mr Taylor said that before the planning inquiry last April, the council and the developers then agreed over the planning class of the proposed building. He also agreed with the applicants the appeal site was not in Green Belt land.

The site is a large car park opposite the former Terry’s chocolate factory, whose historic buildings have been converted to housing and the area is ‘largely urban.’

The proposed building would be detached from the street with little street frontage, his report continued.

But this meant “the proposed building would appear as an alien feature which would not respond well to, and would appear wholly out of character with, the area, causing significant harm in the process.”

National planning policies, he continued, demand “high quality and beautiful buildings and Places” with “visually attractive” and “good design”.

The Vale of York NHS Clinical Commissioning Group had raised objections over the scheme’s impact on local GP services, but the Inspector did not find enough evidence to prove this.

City of York Council said it considered the development would not harm the setting of nearby heritage assets, such as the former chocolate factory.

The council could not demonstrate a 5-year housing supply, and it agreed that the extra care homes would help fill a need for then in the west of York.

The inspector said he gave “significant weight” to the “various social benefits associated with specialist housing for older people.”

This included it freeing up under-occupied homes, whose elderly residents would release to the open market.

But the proposed scheme did not meet the design standards fundamental to the planning system so it’s significant harm would outweigh its benefits.

Therefore, the proposal would not meet local and national planning policies and the appeal should be dismissed, he concluded.