50-bed home will be built by city council for people with dementia in Portsmouth

The Portsmouth City Council scheme for the former Edinburgh House care home site will provide affordable apartments for people on the housing register, supported by on-site specialist staff.

‘This application is an important one,' cabinet member for health and social care Matthew Winnington said on Wednesday. 'Not just for the provision of extra care accommodation for people with dementia in Portsmouth but also to help provide more sustainability for social care as a whole.

'Back in 2018 when I first asked officers to assess the areas of care provision where there were gaps in the city - one of these was dementia extra care.

'Up until now there has been no place for people to go and this means that people with dementia are either in accommodation which is inappropriate or are having to move out of the city.

'This application is designed for people with dementia at the heart of it and includes the very best practice for care.'

The application, submitted in November, was a scaled-back version of a 60-flat proposal first drawn up by the council which was reduced in scale to make room for a larger central courtyard.

The care home was demolished in 2020, two years after planning permission for the demolition was granted.

Hundreds of people attended two consultation events in September last year to find out details of the three-storey development and of the 146 people who filled in a questionnaire on it, 96 per cent outlined their support.

This position was backed by the committee who quickly agreed to grant planning permission.

'This is part of a wider plan for Cosham which is good news and long overdue and it provides us with vital accommodation that is needed across the city,' committee member Darren Sanders said.

Councillor Hugh Mason said it was 'a very sensible part' of plans for Cosham and said the facility was 'well thought out'.

A condition of their decision is that construction of the new building is started within the next three years.