PLANS for 30 new beds for people with dementia at a Newport nursing home will go ahead after a council decision was successfully appealed.

Millheath Nursing Home in Bettws had applied for planning permission to demolish an existing office building and garage/laundry rooms and replace them with a new 30-bed two-storey care facility with a new single-storey office and laundry building.

However, Newport City Council’s planning committee unanimously rejected the plans in July 2021, saying they had the potential for an adverse effect on the visual amenity in the area – despite agreeing that there was a shortage of dementia care beds in Newport.

Newport-based AJ Planning and Richard Andrews Architects appealed the decision, and were successful in overturning the council’s six initial reasons for refusing the new building extension to accommodate the enhanced facilities.

Upon allowing the appeal, the planning inspector agreed with the consultant’s case that the architectural design of the extension appropriately blended the old and new elements of the building effectively.

In assessing concerns over highways matters, the inspector said in his appeal decision letter: “The council appears to have belatedly accepted that not all employees of the care home will be on site at the same time, working as many do in this industry on shifts.

“Given that common sense dictates that this would be the case, the council’s insistence on ‘Clear and unequivocal historic documentary evidence’ is unnecessary and unreasonable.”

Andrew Ayles, director of AJ Planning, said: “On a personal level, I am delighted with this result, given the passing away of my father last year to this cruel disease and in welcoming the clear community benefits which would result from the delivery of this important facility.”