Permission for NHS

We are delighted to have recently achieved planning permission on behalf of the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust for a single storey extension to Cherry Orchard House, the external refurbishment of this locally listed building, and associated works and landscaping, including car parking at their Hospital Street site in Tamworth.

The Hospital Street site has many planning constraints, including the locally listed building (Cherry Orchard House), the Hospital Street Conservation Area designation, trees subject to preservation orders, suitability for protected species, and potential archaeological remains.

Cherry Orchard House was a mental health day clinic and associated offices, but the active use of the site ceased some 8 years ago. Since it closed, the site and building had started to appear rundown and had become a target for anti-social behaviour. The Council’s own draft Conservation Area Management Plan set out the Council’s concerns over the condition of Cherry Orchard House and the overall site and boundary treatment, and how this was being affected and would be affected, by the site remaining vacant.

The approval enables the recommissioning of the site, which will not only refurbish and bring the locally listed building back into use but will also support the delivery of the Trust’s community mental health service for Tamworth, allowing allied teams to work alongside each other more effectively and efficiently. The offices within Cherry Orchard House will be upgraded and the contemporary extension will be used as consulting rooms and will be linked to the main house via a glazed link (which will also facilitate disabled access to both parts of the site). The existing car parking in the northern section of the site will be formalised and the wider site landscaped, including minor alterations and repairs to the important boundary walls. The site’s biodiversity will be improved through the provision of bat boxes and sparrow nest boxes, alongside the suitable landscaping of the site with pollinating plants.

We worked with the Trust and a multi-disciplinary Design Team, including Horsley Huber Architects, to arrive at the successful scheme. We also worked closely with the Council’s planning officers both at pre-application stage and during the processing of the planning application to ensure a satisfactory outcome of the proposal, particularly to address concerns raised by the Conservation Officer, County Highways and the County Archaeologist. This ensured a satisfactory outcome to the application and minimised the need for pre-commencement conditions on the consent.