Second pensioners' village due to be approved in Birmingham.
Apr 29 2010 by Jane Tyler, Birmingham Mail
BIRMINGHAM’S second dedicated village for pensioners is on the starting blocks.
An application to build a £24 million 180-apartment retirement village in Newtown was set to go before the city council’s planning committee today.
It will be a partnership between ExtraCare Charitable Trust and Birmingham City Council, and will be be on land off Pannel Croft.
If the scheme is approved, construction will start in the winter with completion by spring 2013.
The first centre opened in New Oscott in February, a third is planned in Hagley Road, Edgbaston, and a fourth is earmarked for Shaftmoor Lane, Acocks Green.
Plans for the Newtown village show the apartments accommodating around 250 residents.
Each would have their own living room, one or two bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen. Many would have their own balcony overlooking an internal courtyard with landscaped garden areas and accessible walkways.
The hub of every village is the centre with facilities including a restaurant and bar, shop, community hall, worship room, gym, hairdressing and beauty salon, woodwork room, IT suite, library, greenhouse and craft room.
It will cost around £24 million to build. Of that, £3.2 million has already been made available by The Department of Health. The rest will come from ExtraCare seeking funding from Urban Living and The Homes and Communities Agency. The charity’s Birmingham Smile Appeal would also provide £2 million for the communal facilities.
Around 80 jobs would be created, all recruited locally, and the village will be open to Birmingham residents aged 55 upwards.
Most of the apartments – around 80 per cent – will be for affordable rent, while the remainder will be brought outright or part-ownership. Some will be set aside for residents with extra care needs, including infirmity and dementia.
Cabinet member for housing, Coun John Lines, said: “This village would provide much-needed new homes for our older people in Newtown.”
