Former care home site to be sold after seven years

A FORMER care home in Henley that has been derelict for seven years is finally set to be sold.

Chilterns End was closed by the Orders of St John Care Trust in 2016 when it moved to the new 64-bed Chilterns Court care centre next to Townlands Memorial Hospital

The 2.37-acre site, which is owned by Oxfordshire County Council, is being marketed by estate agent Savills with offers invited until noon on Thursday.

The freehold of the land is being sold with the opportunity to build about 27 homes, as set out in the joint Henley and Harpsden neighbourhood plan.

The sale could hasten the sale of the neighbouring premises in Chilterns Close, home of the Chiltern Centre.

The charity, which provides care for disabled young adults, wants to sell its site to help finance a move to a new £3.5 million building at Highlands Park, off Greys Road. It has embroiled in a legal wrangle with the council over a right of way over its current site but a resolution is said to be close.

Paul Barrett, former chairman of trustees, who is overseeing the move, said that Savills had been instructed to let potential bidders for the care home land know that its site may also be available soon.

He said: “We had a grown-up conversation with the county council and they are not going to implement the requirements that were in the original rider.

“That means anybody purchasing our site would have free access to it and wouldn’t be constricted by the deed of overage which was previously in force.

“There is co-operation now whereas before it was more about people holding entrenched views. We have progressed and there has been significant improvement.”

Mr Barrett said that the centre’s trustees were likely to submit a planning application to redevelop its site in the New Year.

He said: “We want to make sure that we have got the ability to demonstrate what the buyer is purchasing. The application would be for three homes but there would be some movement between houses and other forms of accommodation.”

Mr Barrett said discussions were taking place with housebuilder Crest Nicholson, which wants to develop the northern field of Highlands Park where the new centre would be.

He said: “We really need to tie them down and have something that’s belt and braces on the site that we can have access to when we need it. We need to have all our ducks in a row as we go through the legalities of it all. We need a purchaser for our site with the patience to buy it before they are able to access it. It is quite the juggling act.”

Mr Barrett said the charity had a lot of the money needed to finance the move but would need to launch a new fundraising campaign for the rest.

He added: “We have got quite a lot of it [money] but we need a significant amount to finance the new build. But we really need to have the evidence for any would-be donors that we really have got access to the site on a specific date so we can all aim for that with confidence.”

The county council says the price the Chiltern Centre want for its site — about £840,000 — is too high to justify the cost of purchasing it itself.

Henley’s county councillor Stefan Gawrysiak said: “I hope that whoever buys the Chilterns End site makes a really good offer for the Chiltern Centre site as well and incorporates it. It is a great site for low-cost social housing with an affordable element.”