A PLANNING proposal to build a care village comprising more than 120 apartments, a gym, a hydrotherapy pool and a hair salon will next week be scrutinised by councillors.

The proposed site is a two hectare patch of land off Kingsdown Road in Stratton, near Fitzwarren House Care Home.

Developers Castlewood Commercial Properties Ltd submitted the application in October and it will be brought before the Stratton St Margaret Parish Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, December 12.

The plans include a 40-bedroom dementia care home; 120 close care apartments and a communal club house to include a shop, a library, a hydrotherapy pool, a gym, a residents lounge, a dining room and a hairdressing salon, together with associated access, landscaping and appropriate car parking facilities.

The main access to the site will be from Kingsdown Road along the southern boundary.

In a bid to give the village a sense of community spirit, the planning statement reads: “A strategic network of footways has been provided throughout the development, linking all properties back to the communal village hub.

“A network of green space has also been formed that meanders through the development. This will provide a recreational route to encourage various levels of social interaction and a sense of community and village life.”

The site is currently an unmanaged field with dense undergrowth and some scrub growth that is bordered with native hedgerows and mature trees.

Addressing the general look and appearance of the village, the developers say: “The appearance and detailing of the buildings have responded to the local historical character in Swindon’s nearby suburbs and will have a traditional character.”

Developers have further stressed that “a care village should not engender a feeling of ‘institutionalisation’ or be reminiscent of a hospital, but should aspire to create an organic village community, with strong elements of self-containment to facilitate formal and informal social interactions”.

Tuesday’s planning meeting will take place at 7pm at Grange Leisure. Members of the public are welcome to attend and make any representations to councillors.