Perth and Kinross councillors set wheels in motion for 40 affordable homes to be developed on site of former Perth care home

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Councillors have given the nod to potentially demolish a former Perth care home and develop the site into 40 affordable homes for older people.On Wednesday, November 29 Perth and Kinross Council's Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee agreed to a design team progressing with the project estimated to cost £6.5 million.The demolition and development of 40 new-builds on the site was the preferred option over converting Beechgrove House into 20-25 affordable homes.A report put before the committee said converting Beechgrove House into 20-25 affordable units would cost £3.5 million.

It was ruled out due to it resulting in less affordable housing units, being "unlikely" to achieve the diversity of housing needed, and that it would be "potentially impossible" to meet energy standards in the existing building.Liberal Democrat Perth City Centre councillor Peter Barrett questioned what led to the proposal for it be affordable housing purely for older people.

He argued Beechgrove was "an excellent location for family housing given it's within very short walking distance to primary and secondary schools".Senior Housing service manager Elaine Ritchie said older people living in larger homes could move to the smaller new-builds and free up family accommodation.She told councillors: "We have a lot of older people under-occupying in our own stock and therefore it would free up the capacity of larger accommodation.

So we're actually going to get more availability of accommodation as a result of this development."Perth City South SNP councillor Sheila McCole said the number of council homes in her ward that were under-occupied was "significant" and added: "There's also a lot of people waiting long term for a transfer and want to stay in