Decision to be made on demolishing Perdiswell Harvester for care home

Worcester City Council’s planning committee will be meeting to rule on whether to knock down the former Harvester restaurant in Worcester’s Droitwich Road and replace it with a 76-bed care home.

The plan for a 78-bed care home was thrown out by councillors a year ago, calling the designs “ugly and depressing” and “lacking imagination.”

PLAN: An artist's impression of the proposed 76-bed care home on the site of the former Perdiswell Harvester in Droitwich Road, Worcester (Image: MACC Care)

Councillors went against the advice of officers last year when it rejected the plan and officers, who described the latest plan as “broadly identical” to the one rejected last year, have again recommended the care home is approved when the committee meets in the Guildhall on July 20.

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Ahead of the meeting, planning officers said the care home was “well-designed” and “utilised the site’s full potential.”

However, one objector, Julia Kimberley, who has lived in Claines for 70 years, said building another care home was turning the area into a “ghetto.”

"The site is prime for affordable housing – there is a new school just over the road and a new Lidl next door, which is ideal for low-income families,” she said.

"Care homes are eye-wateringly expensive, and lots of people in the area cannot afford it, so they are not helping elderly housing in the area."

Last year, the care home plan was also criticised for providing an “inadequate” amount of outdoor space for residents to enjoy with committee vice chair Cllr Pat Agar comparing the care home to a “barracks for warehousing people.”

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A new care 74-bed care home opened on the old park-and-ride site in John Comyn Drive in February last year – less than half a mile from the former Harvester.

Planners at Wychavon District Council turned down a move to build an 80-bed care home on land known as the ‘Donkey Field’ off Northwick Road in 2021 before the application returned – albeit with 70 beds instead of 80 – less than a year later.

A decision is still to be made.

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A controversial plan to build a McDonald’s drive-thru on the site was eventually withdrawn in November 2019 after facing a wave of opposition from residents.

Hundreds of people spoke out against the plan saying a new McDonald’s should not be built near a school and would attract more litter and anti-social behaviour.