Sarsen Housing
Association, a member of the Aster Group, has been chosen to work
with Caradon District Council to develop an extra care village on
the former Passmore Edwards Hospital site in Liskeard.
Extra care housing enables older people to carry on living as independently
as possible with the security of having their care and support needs
looked after by trained and qualified staff. Caradon and Sarsen
aim to have the 55 unit extra care village in Liskeard up and running
by 2010.
Caradon received
six high quality competitive bids to develop the site from well-established
extra care providers. All bids were scored by a selection panel,
and Sarsen was selected as Caradon's preferred partner.
Councillor John
Turner, Caradon's Housing and Community Services portfolio holder,
said: "This is a very significant step along the way to achieving
our vision of an extra care village for South East Cornwall.
"I am pleased
that Sarsen has been appointed from such a strong field and that
we can now progress to the next stage. This is a complex project,
and there is still a long way to go, but we are firmly on the right
track.
"Now that
the preferred partner has been appointed, we can work together with
them to secure the central government funding needed for the project.
This is a major hurdle, but everything looks promising at the moment.
There is a sharply rising need for the type of development we are
seeking, and we are looking to provide an exemplary scheme of which
Liskeard, Caradon and all of Cornwall can be justifiably proud."
Jill Gregg,
Aster's Devon and Cornwall Director said: "Naturally we are
delighted to have been selected, once again, to work in partnership
with Caradon District Council.
With an ageing population and people wishing to remain in their
own homes for longer there has never been a greater demand for extra
care accommodation. We'll be using our experience in the field to
make this visionary flagship scheme a very positive reality."
Sarsen Housing
Association and Aster Group, have a wealth of experience in developing
extra care facilities. The most recent extra care project was St
Barnabas in Plymouth, which opened in March 2005, and work is currently
underway on a second extra care scheme in Plymouth. Sarsen are also
in the process of building 19 affordable homes for Caradon at St
Ann's Chapel.
Although the
number of 65 to 84 year olds in Caradon is expected to rise by 77%
over the next 25 years, there is currently no extra care provision
in the district or Cornwall as a whole.
The development
of the extra care village in South East Cornwall is expected to
be a long term project, as it will involve a complex funding package
from two different central government departments. Funding for the
site development will be sought from the Housing Corporation and
the Department for Health. Through Supporting People, Cornwall County
Council will also have a key role in funding housing related support
services. Caradon is already working closely with the Primary Care
Trust, the Department of Adult Social Care and other partners on
the project.
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