Simply UK - Morar Living
Welcome to our Public Consultation
Welcome
Thank you for taking the time to visit this consultation website.
Simply UK is proposing to develop a new, purpose built, 70-bed care home with associated visitor & staff car parking and landscaped gardens at the site of the Halliwell Jones BMW garage,130 Manchester Road, Wilmslow – often still known as the “Blue Bell Garage,”
We are inviting the local community to view our proposals and provide any feedback that you may have on these.
Your comments will help to shape the preparation of our Planning Application, which we aim to submit in late December of this year.
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Artist’s impression of our proposals as viewed from Manchester Road
The application site has been in use as a car dealership since the early 1980s, previously operating as a service station with garage facilities. The site has been extended and rebuilt on a number of occasions.
The Halliwell Jones BMW dealership will be relocating to its new premises at Handforth and will be vacating the site by the end of 2024.
Once completed, the care home will be operated by Morar Living; providers of residential, dementia, respite, nursing & palliative care throughout the UK. It currently operates 13 care homes with a further 4 homes due to open in 2024 and 3 in the early stages of construction.
For more information on Morar Living please visit https://moraruk.co
Existing site plan
(c) Google
Site Analysis
To develop our proposal we have analysed the existing site and surroundings, looking at constraints & opportunities for the new care home to fit into the neighbourhood.
The locality around the site comprises predominantly two storey detached, semi-detached and terraced family homes. These are generally set back from the road frontage.
Manchester Road has mature trees and hedges lining the road, with deeper building set backs and a pleasant leafy suburban environment.
A terrace of houses on Stanneylands Road west of the site provides stronger enclosure.
The commercial use of the site and the adjoining shops creates a small node of activity on the junction of Manchester Road and Dean Row Road.
The dealership’s open forecourt provides a weak, car dominated urban character.
Aerial View from North (c) Google
Aerial View from East (c) Google
Aerial View from South (c) Google
Aerial View from West (c) Google
View from Manchester Road junction
View from Majestic Wines car park
View along wayleave route from West
Internal site view toward wayleave and boundary to Finney Green Cottage
View into site from Grason Avenue
Site access off Grason Avenue
The 1.1 acre site has three points of access - Two from the busy Manchester Road junction and one from the residential cul-de-sac off Grason Avenue.
There is a wayleave leading to an electricity substation and to the rear of Finney Green Cottage off the northern most access off Manchester Road.
The sun path route indicates that there should be little overshadowing on the site.
The large workshop at the rear of the site presently overshadows rear gardens to the north of the site.
The site is given over to buildings and hardstanding parking areas with one small strip of landscaping to the Grason Avenue boundary.
Finney Green Cottage is a Grade II listed building and the site adjoins its curtilage. A number of mature trees and undergrowth screen the building at the shared boundary with some gaps providing views through.
Highfield (Wilmslow) Conservation Area lies to the south of the site, beyond the Majestic Wine store. Existing connectivity is weak with the site because of the intervening highway, building and topography.
The existing buildings and use of the site have the following environmental impacts:
Large workshop building causes substantial loss of daylight & overshadowing of rear gardens to Nos. 2 & 3 Finney Close
Noise nuisance due to engine noise emanating from the customer & service parking areas
Noise nuisance due to air-gun noise emanating from service workshop
Noise nuisance due to pressure washer noise emanating from the internal valet bay in workshop building
North-western side of Grason Avenue used for dealership staff parking
Site Analysis Plans
Existing garage activity analysis
Existing site conditions - Finney Green Cottage (Listed) marked by blue star
Existing site nuisance
Highfield (Wilmslow) Conservation Area boundary
Key Site Opportunities
Positioning, configuration & orientation of building footprint to eliminate current overshadowing of rear gardens and avoid creating overlooking or loss of privacy
Use only existing vehicle access off Grason Avenue. The care home will have greatly reduced vehicle movements compared to the dealership. And, it will also remove current staff parking on Grason Avenue.
Work with the sun path and shadows cast by existing buildings to provide protection for elderly people requiring more protection from direct sunlight.
Close Manchester Road accesses for vehicles (except wayleave) and provide a safe pedestrian route to the care home entrance.
Improve biodiversity, including 10% Biodiversity Net Gain, through soft landscaping, trees & hedging which will also be of benefit to care home residents visitors and staff.
Use oblique angled fenestration for the south-east facing bedroom windows nearest to Grason Avenue to prevent overlooking of rear gardens of Dean Close homes.
Removal of the functional garage buildings and development of the proposed residential home with landscaped grounds offers an opportunity to improve the relationship between the site and listed Finney Green Cottage to the north. And also to the character of the crossroads in proximity to the Highfield (Wilmslow) Conservation Area to the south.
Set the eaves and ridge heights for the 2-storey care home in-keeping with the residential townscape.
Proposed Site Plan
Site Plan Strategy
Vehicular access will be taken of Grason Avenue only, with additional pedestrian access off Manchester Road / Dean Row Road. Rear access to the sub-station will be retained.
Proposed parking for 24 cars, including 2 disabled user spaces, ambulance drop-off and 10 bicycle spaces.
The proposed care home is laid out to follow the long axis of the site running back from Manchester Road. This broadly follows the form defined by the existing buildings. The proposed building will have smaller overall footprint and greater separation from boundaries than the existing buildings.
External spaces on the site will be landscaped to provide a safe and attractive external environment for residents & their visitors.
Boundary treatments will complement this landscaping and provide appropriate security for residents and be in keeping for public and private boundaries.
The frontage to Manchester Road will be enclosed with a low boundary brick wall with piers and railings, and hedgerow planting behind. This will visually strengthen the corner, providing enclosure and security for residents and reflect the wider residential character of the area.
Biodiversity Net Gain will be incorporated into the landscape proposal as required and will be subject to long-term maintenance and management by the care home.
Proposals - Plans
ROOF PLAN
The roof plan comprises two pitched roof sections linked by a centralised flat roof. The western section has a service zone recess to screen the air source heat pump plant, with the eastern section capped with a flat roof to allow positioning of photovoltaic (solar) panel arrays.
FIRST FLOOR
The first floor plan follows the general arrangement of the ground floor plan; having two secure wings of 20 &16 ensuite bedrooms and is accessed by two 13-person passenger lifts and a central staircase. Each dayroom & dining lounge has access to a balcony for residents, some of whom may have limited mobility thus restricting access to the gardens.
GROUND FLOOR
The main building entrance (shown with a red arrow on plan) is located to the south of the building and is highly visible to the car park and opposite the vehicular entrance off Grason Avenue.
Through the main entrance there is access to a reception area, café and hair & nail salon, with management office adjacent to, and overlooking, the entrance. This is the central focal point of the building from which access is provided to two secure wings of 20 &14 ensuite bedrooms, each with their own dayroom & dining lounge; with external terrace, and ancillary support accommodation.
There are 34 en-suite bedrooms on the ground floor with 29 of these having their own private patio.
BASEMENT FLOOR
The Basement houses all ‘back of house’ accommodation including commercial kitchen , laundry, staff changing facilities and plant room.
Concept Layouts - Parking and access approach
Concept Layouts - Room orientation and outlook
Concept Layouts - Increased landscaping
Proposals - Elevations
Artist’s impression of view on arrival from Grason Avenue
In the surrounding area red brick is the predominant walling material with buff brick also evident, particularly along Manchester Road to the north. Roofing materials are also varied, with natural slate and plain tiles in a range of hues from grey, dark brown/grey and terracotta red.
This offers a broad palette of materials and details to choose from. Our proposal is to use a mix of red brick and buff brick features and slate grey roofs as the main palette. Selective use of a lightweight horizontal cladding (Cedral fibre cement timber effect) is proposed at first floor over the main entrance and along part of the western length of the north western elevation facing the southern side gardens of the Finney Green Cottage.
The massing of the building takes its cue from the scale and mass of the neighbouring residential properties, which in turn respects the existing screetscape.
The proposed building is two storey under pitched roofs, with a central flat roof section. The building will be articulated by use of gables, varied fenestration and secondary details.
It will provide much-needed and high-quality care accommodation designed specifically for the elderly, providing opportunities for Wilmslow residents to remain living locally when their care needs increase, whilst potentially freeing-up existing homes within the area for other families.
Our proposals will provide economic benefits from new jobs in a range of care, support and managerial roles; and construction work in the short-term.
Provide environmental benefits through the removal of extensive areas of hardstanding and the introduction of additional landscaping and to enhancements to biodiversity
Our proposals will provide significant public benefits and support broad planning principles:
It will see the redevelopment a brownfield site within the existing urban area, which planning policy supports sequentially as the first such areas to be considered suitable for new development.
And a residential use for a care home is appropriate in a largely residential area and will be a ‘good neighbour.’
It will mean the car showroom and garage will not be left vacant and disused for a prolonged period which would lead to harm to the area.
Benefits
Construction will embed carbon reduction in materials selected, insulation and use of air source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels as part of Simply UK’s commitment to Net Zero.
Will use a palette of materials that respect the character of the surrounding area, including respecting the setting of adjacent listed Finney Green Cottage and the nearby Highfield Conservation Area.
Will remove potential for future nuisance to neighbours should another garage or commercial use reoccupy the premises.
And, will not of itself lead to nuisance or activities that are inappropriate within a predominantly residential area, whether that is though noise, emissions or traffic.
Comments & Next Steps
Thank you for taking the time to view our proposals.
We welcome your feedback which you can provide through the form below or alternatively email info@planred.co.uk.
Your feedback will be reviewed and considered as part of preparing our final proposals. Your comments will also be anonymized and published in full in a Statement of Community Involvement which will be submitted with the Planning Application to Cheshire East Council during December 2024.
The Application will include detailed plans for the proposed site accompanied by technical reports.