Our Proposals
Churchill Retirement Living’s vision is for the attractive redevelopment of the site, to be in keeping with its surrounding, which meets the local need for retirement apartments, while contributing positively economically and the attractive redevelopment of a rundown site.
The proposals seek to provide retirement living apartments with associated communal areas, parking and landscaping.
Benefits
Supporting local businesses – The site is well-located to shops and essential services, at under a mile away from the main shopping area of Felixstowe, reducing the need to travel by car and delivering a significant uplift in local expenditure at local shops and businesses.
A study by Homes for Later Living has shown the average 45-person retirement living development generates £550,000 of spending per year, with £347,000 spent on the local high street.
Meeting the needs of older people – By moving to a Churchill Retirement community of like-minded people, isolation and loneliness are significantly reduced as are anxieties related to the maintenance of the home and to safety and security experienced by many older people. This enables our residents to enjoy greatly improved health and general wellbeing.
Reducing demands on health and social services – Retirement communities reduce the risk of health challenges by helping to reduce social isolation and loneliness for elderly people as well as improving safety and security. This creates a positive impact in terms of reducing demands on local health and social services.
Helping young people onto the housing ladder- Research has shown that by providing homes at the top of the housing ladder, which better meet the needs and aspirations of older people, specialist retirement housing developments of the kind delivered by Churchill Retirement Living free up homes for families that need extra space to move into and that through the chain effect, free up more homes for first-time buyers.
Car Parking
The typical age profile of those currently living at a Churchill Retirement community is an 80-year-old widow. Generally, 50% of residents also come from within a 5-mile radius of the location. Given the above age-profile, residents of Churchill communities tend to not have cars. It is also generally found that those who do initially have cars tend to give them up soon after moving into a lodge as they find they no longer need it given the sustainable location and neighbourly living environment.
Because retirement living is a very different operational use than residential apartments or care home developments, Churchill have developed an evidence base of research undertaken across several existing Churchill Retirement developments.
This research has shown that Churchill’s existing sites typically have a parking demand of 0.28 spaces per apartment. As such the parking demand in Felixstowe is forecast to be in the region of 11 parking spaces.
However, Churchill is proposing 21 parking spaces at a ratio of 0.36 spaces per apartment. Given this exceeds the forecast parking demand, it likely exceeds the need for parking at any given time and is therefore considered to be acceptable.
Local Need
The Suffolk Coastal Local Plan states: “An ageing population creates specific requirements for residential dwellings and care provision, although there is often a desire to remain in the existing home rather than to relocate. Adaptation and improvement to the existing housing stock may provide a solution but will not always be possible. The provision of new accommodation suitable for older people will potentially free up larger family housing which will be important alongside new dwellings.”
It also says, “The East Suffolk Housing Strategy recognises that there are an increasing number of older people living in housing that is too large or is not suited to their mobility needs. It states that there is a need for more housing to be adapted to make it accessible and for more specialist housing for older people… The development of new housing provides an opportunity to design-in such considerations. Provision of smaller, more suitable, accommodation may result in more of the existing larger properties becoming available.”
Proposed Site Plan
Before/After images of site
