COUNCILLORS have opposed plans for a 72-bedroom care home to be built in Rockwell Green.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s planning committee objected to the application and recommended that Somerset Council refused to give it permission.

The plans have been put forward by Care UK Property Ltd who want to build the care home with associated access, parking, landscaping and site infrastructure on land to the south-west of Exeter Road.

Although people living close to the earmarked site have no problem with a care home in principle, they certainly have problems with the plans and listed a catalogue of concerns to local councillors at their planning committee meeting on August 5.

One resident said: “I’m glad it’s being proposed as a care home rather than one of those mini supermarkets as I don’t want youths drinking outside where I live and then throwing up in my driveway.

“But there are quite a lot of things I’m concerned about with the actual plans and there doesn’t seem to be much common sense.”

The plans show that the entrance would be through Odette Avenue and not from the main Exeter Road and that is a real worry for people.

Another resident said they were concerned about safety implications and that it would become dangerous for road users.

“The roads in that estate are not wide enough to cope with all the extra traffic,” he said.

They were also concerned about a problem over parking as the plans only showed 32 spaces, one delivery bay and one ambulance bay.

The town council’s planning committee originally opposed the plans when first discussed back in January and councillors were of no different mindset seven months on.

Cllr Andy Govier questioned whether there was an actual need for a care home of that size in Wellington.

“There isn’t the demand for this,” he said. “It wouldn’t be for local people either, but for people coming from across the border in Devon.

“This would put pressure on our local infrastructure and I definitely think the access should be off Exeter Road with a dedicated right-hand filter lane.”

Cllr Steve Mercer was concerned about the lack of parking and said that if a resident of the care home was celebrating a birthday and had a large family, they could have a number of cars turning up of relatives and it would put pressure on the already-limited parking facilities.

Councillors said they felt the parking would spill over into the residential development close to a play area and there would be an increased risk of an accident.

Cllr John Thorne said that the actual plans for the care home looked very good, but “everything else about it” was wrong.

“I haven’t changed my mind – this needs to be refused,” he said.

Cllr Chris Booth said the proposals needed to be reviewed, while the Mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, said that the plans in their current state were ‘madness’.

Somerset Council will make the final decision on the application.