RCT Council has received full planning permission for a new specialist care accommodation for people with learning disabilities in adulthood and older age, to be built on the former Bronllwyn Residential Care Home site in Gelli.
The Planning and Development Committee considered the application at its meeting on Thursday, April 20, and committee members agreed with officer recommendations to grant planning consent. This permission includes demolishing the existing buildings on the site at Colwyn Road, to build a new accommodation which includes 13 en-suite bedrooms and a respite room.
In July 2022, Cabinet Members agreed a £4.979m funding package for the development. It was also included in the Council’s wider capital programme to modernise its residential care facilities, which was previously agreed in 2020.
The new building will include a lower ground floor, a ground floor and a first floor – with several amenities including an entrance foyer, laundry facility, staff restroom, three day rooms, three sensory rooms, a commercial kitchen, toilet areas, nurse station, hairdresser, assisted bathroom and a training room.
The wider development will include sustainable drainage features and a large courtyard to the west of the building that will provide an outdoor space for the facility’s residents and staff. The site will continue to be accessed from the existing point at Colwyn Road/Smith Street, and the parking area will be retained. Two new parking spaces will be established east of the new building.
In recommending the application for approval, an officer report to Thursday’s meeting noted that the development is a tailored scheme that aims to meet local care needs – aiming to help address a shortfall of specialist residential care accommodation. The building is also earmarked for a brownfield site and was considered acceptable in relation to material planning considerations.
Councillor Gareth Caple, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, said: “I’m pleased that full planning permission is now granted for the Council to build a new specialist care accommodation for older people on the former Bronllwyn care home and day centre site. Cabinet Members approved the development last year – identifying a £4.9m funding package to provide modern accommodation that offers 24/7 tailored support, helping to meet the increasingly-complex needs of older people.
“The Gelli development will complement our £50m commitment, made in 2017, to modernise residential care provision for older people – by providing 300 extra care beds across five new developments in Rhondda Cynon Taf. Schemes in Aberaman and Pontypridd have recently delivered 100 beds towards this target. On top of this, a separate £60m capital investment was agreed by Cabinet in February 2023 to create four state-of-the-art new care accommodation in Treorchy, Ferndale, Mountain Ash and Church Village.
“The Planning and Development Committee’s decision on Thursday will allow the Council to progress the new development in Gelli. I’m looking forward to seeing this scheme take shape over the months ahead, towards the first works activity to transform the unused site into a state-of-the-art facility.”
The site at Colwyn Road formerly accommodated both a care home and a day centre. In 2020, Cabinet agreed to decommission Bronllwyn Residential Care Home and consider a new development in its place to meet changes in need and demand. There were no residents living in the care home at the time.
Bronllwyn Day Centre was closed in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions, and has remained closed (aside from August to December 2021, when it opened on three days a week). It was permanently closed as part of a decision by Cabinet in July 2022 to approve the specialist accommodation for the site. Alternative care and support arrangements for the previous day centre users will continue until it can be offered at the future Porth Extra Care scheme.
