New care home will not be built on old Wigan borough school grounds

Situated at the former home of Kings Park School, which closed in the 1990s, a 66-bed care facility for older people had been planned until objectors made their voices clear.

Local residents were concerned that the transformation of the building off Leigh Road, which housed a Christian centre for a time, would have caused major and negative impact on the green belt, wildlife and local traffic.

LNT Care Developments’ plans included the two-storey 3,178m sq main building with single rooms with en-suite/wetrooms as well as amenity spaces that includes cafes; dining rooms; bars; garden room; cinema and hairdresser.

According to planning documents, all bedrooms would have enjoyed views of the surrounding gardens and ground floor rooms facing the enclosed amenity space will have direct garden access. State-of-the art catering facilities and a 25-space car park were also included in the proposals.

A planning statement read: “The care homes built by LNT are designed with residents’ comfort at heart, and provide excellent day-to-day amenities, services and comforts in house.

"In this case, this includes main lounges/dining rooms, café/bars, quiet lounges/family rooms, a garden room, cinema room, a shop and hair studio.”

However, planning officers at Wigan Council agreed with the objectors, stating that the development would represent an “inappropriate development in the green belt.”

They believed it would cause undue harm to the openness of the green area.