Empty Northampton care home to be demolished for new 'affordable' housing

A former Northampton care home will be demolished to provide new ‘affordable’ housing for the area.

Ecton Brook House, in Ecton Brook Road, which has been vacant for almost eight years, will be completely bulldozed as West Northamptonshire Council gave plans the go-ahead on February 7.

Developers Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH) are looking to create 18 new homes on the site, all of which will be under the umbrella of affordable housing.

The building, which was purpose-built in the 1970s, shut down in 2016. It previously provided assisted living for up to 46 elderly residents. They were moved to accommodation elsewhere in the county once the home closed its doors.

A mixture of two to four-bedroom homes will be built on-site, with two being wheelchair accessible. All houses will be comprised of social, affordable or intermediate rent.

The plans propose 37 off-road parking spaces for residents, as well as solar panels coming pre-built into the roofing. The neighbourhood will be mostly made up of attached or terraced housing and residential flats.

The planning documents wrote: “Due to the design and layout of the existing building and the constraints of the building and wider site, it does not lend itself to a viable alternative use.

“The existing building is in a reasonably run down state and therefore there are no objections to its demolition on visual grounds as the proposal would serve to create an improvement.”

A previous application made by NPH in 2019 to build 19 affordable homes on the care home site was later withdrawn as it did not “use the available space efficiently”.

Councillor James Hill, who is a ward councillor for Billing and Rectory Farm, told the meeting: “I’m delighted to see this application here today - the site has obviously been derelict for some time. We’re going to have much-needed affordable housing in my area.”

He also said that plans for a community centre building upon the development could be submitted as a separate application in the future.

West Northamptonshire Council unanimously approved the plans.