A Chelmsford nursing home could be closed after councillors threw out expansion plans - worsening an already critical shortage of beds in the area.

Health chiefs slammed the decision to reject the bid from Chelmsford Nursing Home, Sandon, as crazy planning, and warned that it would lead to hospital bed-blocking.

Only one other district in Essex has fewer nursing beds than Chelmsford.

In an average week, four patients are blocking hospital beds because they can not be moved elsewhere.

Owners of the home wanted to build a new 40-bed home on the 7.5 acres site and then demolish the existing 23-bed unit.

They say that 40 beds is the minimum number needed to make a home viable and meet strict new national standards.

Now the home's residents, including a woman of 102 and a 34-year-old quadraplegic man who has lived there for 11 years, face eviction if the home closes.

Chelmsford Primary Care Trust chairman Mrs Pamela Joughin said: "It is a crazy, bureaucratic planning decision and quite a blow to nursing home provision in Chelmsford."

The bid had been backed by Essex Social Services, which said that it was keen to see extra beds to ease a shortage, and Sandon Parish Council. The Council for the Preservation of Rural England had objected to the expansion on Green Belt grounds.

Danny Manley, managing director of owners Essex Nursing Homes, said that he was shocked by the council's decision.

New care standards might mean reducing existing beds to 17, which would force closure, he said.

Chelmsford councillors turned down the planning application after officers recommended that significant harm to the countryside would not be outweighed by benefits to nursing care.

Cllr Tony Hall, executive member for planning, who spoke against approval at the planning meeting, declined to comment.

Published Friday, April 18, 2003

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