Armley extra care housing up for discussion

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leeds civic hall
Leeds Civic Hall

Senior councillors in Leeds will be discussing a programme to deliver new council-owned extra care housing – including the site of a former Armley care home – at a meeting next week.

At the council’s executive board meeting next Wednesday (December 19), members will be updated on the progress made in the delivery of the extra care housing programme, which involves developing seven sites in the city for council-owned extra care accommodation.

Extra care housing is primarily for people who have care and support needs as well as a housing need. The scheme helps to alleviate social isolation by offering shared facilities, dining and activities and also provides on-site access to emergency or unplanned care.

Extra care provision costs the council significantly less to deliver than residential care.

In July 2017, senior councillors approved proposals for the delivery of £30 million of extra care housing for older people across the city. This has since been split into two packages.

Package one

Package one will be delivered and managed by an external provider and will see four sites used to provide extra care housing schemes in Holt Park, Seacroft, West Ardsley and Woodlesford.

These will be mixed tenure, including homes for outright sale, shared ownership and a minimum of 35% of them will be affordable rented homes.

Package two

The second package, which is currently in the pre-procurement stage, will see up to 200 homes delivered directly by the council, with all the units being let at affordable rent levels and managed by the council.

Delivery of this package will be supported by £30 million of Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital funding. It is suggested that there are three sites in this package, rather than the two initially agreed.

A site in Armley was already identified and agreed in July 2017 – Middlecross Resource Centre in Simpson Grove, a care home which was the subject of a campaign to save it from closure in 2016.

Two new sites also includes part of the Throstle Recreation Ground site in Middleton Park, and the north part of a site at Cartmell Drive South in Halton Moor. Executive board members are recommended to approve these two sites at the meeting next week.

If all sites are agreed, seven sites will be used for extra care schemes, ensuring HRA funding is maximised and that further progress is made towards the target of 1,000 extra care units in Leeds by 2028, as set out in the Leeds Vision for extra care.

If plans are supported and developed, all schemes could be completed by spring 2022.

Leeds City Council’s executive member for communities Councillor Debra Coupar said:

“Our programme will help tackle the critical under-supply of extra care housing in the city and deliver high quality homes for older people in seven locations across the city.”

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