New £3.5m care home plan for Black Isle
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PLANS for a new £3.5 million residential and nursing care home on the Black Isle have been announced in a move which will create 50 jobs.
Parklands Group, an independent care home provider, has submitted plans to Highland Council for a
40-bed facility in Fortrose.
The company has also submitted plans to extend its two existing care homes in Muir of Ord and Tain in response to growing demand.
The new Fortrose facility will feature en-suite bedrooms, a day room, dining room, coffee shop and hairdressing salon.
The home will also feature a landscaped garden with views overlooking the Moray Firth.
If approved, the new care home – proposed for a site on Ness Road – could open by the end of 2016.
It would provide much needed elderly care on the Black Isle where a long-established home closed in May.
The facility will be modelled on Parklands’ modern care homes in Tain and Muir of Ord, which opened last year.
As well as residential care, the new facility will provide respite and convalescence care.
The full-time equivalent of 50 jobs will be created in the Fortrose area as a result of the investment.
Ron Taylor, managing director of Parklands, said: "This is an exciting development for Fortrose that will provide valuable jobs and create a much needed community facility for the town.
"It is clear that with a large and growing elderly population, Fortrose lacks sufficient care capacity, particularly following the closure earlier this year of Marine House.
"Unless additional capacity is provided, elderly people will increasingly have to move away from the area to receive the care they need.
"That would be bad for families and it would be bad for local communities.
"We appreciate there may be some concern around the chosen site because it is not zoned for development.
"We have considered a number of alternative sites but none are suitable for this type of facility. We believe the site on Ness Road is the only viable location and it is the only site we wish to develop.
"We look forward to engaging with the local community to help bring this ambitious proposal forward."
Meanwhile, Parklands has responded to soaring demand for their Muir of Ord and Tain care homes with proposals to build an additional six rooms at each facility, at a cost of £750,000. Work on the extensions could start as soon as next month.
Mr Taylor added: "Our new care homes in Muir of Ord and Tain have been well received by residents and by the local community and demand has soared since they opened last summer, with lengthy waiting lists for both homes."
A public exhibition detailing the Fortrose plans will be held in the coming weeks.
