‘Not giving up’ after no to St Ann’s plans (From Bournemouth Echo)

‘Not giving up’ after no to St Ann’s plans

8:00am Saturday 12th December 2009 in

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HEATH chiefs have vowed to press on with improvement plans at St Ann’s Hospital after a £33 million revamp was thrown out by Poole planners.

The ambitious scheme to bring the Canford Cliffs hospital up to modern standards involved new buildings and refurbishing old ones, while preserving the 99-year-old grade II listed building at the heart of the site.

A driving force behind the plan was to create single-sex accommodation and replace dormitory-style rooms with en-suite bedrooms to “provide more privacy and dignity for service users”.

But an application to demolish a 1970s block and replace it with two new two-storey buildings comprising a 12-bed psychiatric care unit and 48 long-stay beds was rejected by planners.

In his report, which came before councillors on Thursday, planning officer Kevin Chilvers expressed concerns about the scale of the development and its relationship with the listed building and protected trees in the area.

He concluded: “It is not considered that the extent of quality of these proposals is appropriate to this extremely sensitive site.”

He recommended the application be refused, judging that the “landscaping, scale, design details, materials and appearance” would have a detrimental impact on the listed building and its setting – and the councillors concurred.

But despite the criticism Dorset HealthCare Trust, which runs the hospital for people with mental health problems, said it remained committed to improving the site.

James Barton, director for adult mental health services at the trust, said they were “reflecting on the implications” and “reviewing the best way forward”.

He added: “We are exploring all the options open to us at this stage and, in consultation with those who commission our services, we will seek a way forward that is in the best interests of all concerned.”

At this stage the trust hasn’t ruled out appealing the decision, or coming back with modified plans.