Extra Care Housing is specialist, high-quality accommodation designed for older people who need additional support and care to keep living independently. Each self-contained flat has its own front door and each development offers communal facilities with activities to encourage people to participate and develop a supportive community.  An onsite care provider will support residents to maintain their health and wellbeing and staff are available 24 hours a day to respond to emergencies.

We know that with the right housing and the right care, in the right place, people are less likely to feel isolated or lonely, will live independently for longer, and are less likely to require hospital admission.  Extra Care Housing delivers homes designed with care and support in mind, with facilities and staffing in place to help older people to live as independently as they wish.

Currently there is not enough affordable Extra Care Housing in Surrey. This means that many older people who can no longer live in their existing homes because of their needs, often end up having to move into a care home.  With more Extra Care Housing available, older people can live long-term in a supportive and well-designed community.

Extra Care Housing works well for many people. Surrey’s existing Extra Care Housing provision has provided accommodation with care and support for many older people over a number of years, enabling them to live as active members of their local communities.

Extra Care Housing is designed to overcome challenges with our existing accommodation:

• changing resident expectations including high demand for self-contained flats which aren’t always readily available

• older properties which cannot accommodate changes to residents’ care and support needs over time e.g. for wheelchair accessibility and lifts; and

• the need for facilities that maintain privacy and dignity e.g. ensuite bath/shower rooms.

The accommodation is intended for older people in need of care and support to maintain their independence. Some may have a physical disability, sensory impairment or mental health needs.  All potential residents will be assessed to confirm their suitability for Extra Care Housing and to ensure that their care and support needs can be met.

This location matched Surrey County Council’s key selection criteria for an Extra Care Housing site:

• it’s within easy walking distance of amenities like shops, health services, libraries etc.

• it has good access to public transport routes, so residents and staff don’t have to be reliant on cars

• it balances locality with natural features which will benefit residents and visitors

Yes – all of the accommodation has been designed to meet the latest Building Regulations standards for accessible, adaptable homes.

The development will follow Secured by Design principles for new homes with improvements to suit the specific needs of the residents, e.g. access controls, external security lighting and a video door entry system.

Car parking arrangements will be tailored to meet the needs of the specific residents, staff and visitors.

All parking bays will have electric charging points, designed to meet existing and future demand.

No - the external lighting has been designed to illuminate car parks, paths and gardens in a way that will encourage wildlife etc. whilst still maintaining safety and security for residents.

This will be largely dependent on the needs of the residents. It’s likely that there will be 24hr support for residents with additional care workers attending at key times of day.

Each resident will have their own care and support needs and a care package will be tailored to meet those needs for each individual. One or more care workers will be on site throughout the day and overnight; but it is not possible, at this early stage, to be precise as to staff numbers, attendance rotas and shift patterns as each will depend on the exact needs of the individuals - which may change over time.

Care workers will attend as needed to fulfil individual residents’ support plans. Activity is likely to be greater during the day. There will be peak times for activity, e.g. personal care and breakfast in the morning and dinner and personal care in the evening – but these peak activity periods are less likely to coincide with the school run, for example. Residents will also be out and about, participating in leisure activities and potentially employment, just like any other member of the community.

Overnight vehicular activity will be limited and care workers providing night cover will ordinarily remain on site 10pm - 7am. SCC will work with service providers to ensure that care worker resource is used effectively; and due regard given to minimising disturbance to neighbours, particularly at night.

A Housing/Estate manager will be appointed to maintain the landscaping and residents will be encouraged to participate in gardening as a leisure activity, should they wish to do so.

A key focus of Extra Care Housing is providing enjoyable activities for residents. We recognise that to make the development an enjoyable place to live, the management team will work closely with residents and other parties to arrange a variety of activities focused on well-being, engagement, and fun, to maximise residents’ enjoyment of their homes.

When people apply to live in the development, they will have an assessment of need to determine whether this is the best setting for them from a social care perspective. There will be a strong consideration for local connection, and it is anticipated that most of the residents will be from the local area. Priority will be decided on level of support required, urgency, and local connection.

Applications will be welcomed from people who are struggling to keep living at their current home and who really need the affordable housing, care and support offered by Extra Care Housing to remain as independent as possible.

Anyone who applies will have their needs assessed by Surrey County Council. Where that person will clearly benefit from a tenancy in the Extra Care Housing community, their application can be examined for its suitability. Some aspects which will be looked at include:

• How much care and support the person needs to remain independent

• The applicant’s age – individual exceptions can be made where it’s clear that the community would be the best place to help the person to keep living independently

• How urgent the person’s need is to become a tenant

SCC will then decide who can be provided with a tenancy and, if there is a waiting list, who should be prioritised when a flat becomes vacant.

Yes - individuals will need to have eligible care and support needs and be eligible for funding from SCC – so all will be deemed either to reside in Surrey or to have the right to reside in Surrey. 

SCC will consider local connections and as far as possible support people to remain in their communities; however, the primary consideration will centre around offering accommodation that meets the needs of the individual.

Extra Care Housing is designed to be flexible and adaptable, so that residents don’t have to move out of their homes if their needs change. Ideally with care and support, residents will be able to remain for the rest of their lives, and people will only have to consider moving into a care home when their care needs require on-site nursing input to be met.

Outline planning applications are used to gain an understanding as to whether the nature of a development is acceptable, as this can help ensure viability up front. Specific details known as reserved matters can then be confirmed later, allowing for planning permission to be granted subject to the condition that all reserved matters are approved before development begins. SCC is applying for outline planning whilst engaging a development partner who is currently being selected under a tender process. At the reserved matters stage, it will be the development partner’s design that is submitted for approval. SCC's appointed Architects will review the development partner’s proposals to ensure they both comply with the outline planning approval and meet both SCC’s needs and the needs of residents before they become part of a reserved matters application.

The first planning application for this site will be an ‘outline application’. This seeks approval for the principle of the development and for specific details such as access points to the site, the location of the building and the scale and height of the building. The outline application will be submitted to SCC under Regulation 3 of the Town & Country Planning General Regulations 1992, also known as a Regulation 3 Application, because SCC is both the applicant and the decision-making body for the planning application. Residents will be notified that an application has been submitted in the same way as with any other planning application. If outline planning approval for the proposal is granted, further applications will be made for approval of landscaping and external appearance including building materials. These are known as Reserved Matters.

Amongst the documents that will be included in the outline planning application is a Statement of Community Involvement which will document the live events that SCC has held, all the questions raised, and feedback received about the proposals from local residents and other interested parties. Whether the outline application is eventually considered by SCC’s Planning and Regulatory Committee or determined under delegated powers is dependent on the outcome of the public consultation during the application period.

Outline planning applications are used to gain an understanding as to whether the nature of a development is acceptable, as this can help ensure viability up front. Specific details known as reserved matters can then be confirmed later, allowing for planning permission to be granted subject to the condition that all reserved matters are approved before development begins.

The current proposal has 51 one bedroom and 2 two bedroom homes. The number of units may change in the period between outline application and reserved matters.

A one-bedroom apartment can accommodate one or two people and a two-bedroom apartment is for two to four people. The total number of residents will depend upon allocation but could be from about 50 up to about 100 people.

The current proposal is for a building of up to three storeys in height on the site.

At this stage we are seeking your views on the principle of providing around 53 new extra housing units on the site, the detailed design will be agreed later in the process.

The independent sector is building a limited number of new homes for older people, but they tend to be available on a market-led rental or leased ownership arrangement. This is why there is still insufficient affordable accommodation to meet demand.

With this development, SCC seeks to re-purpose and re-develop an SCC-owned site, to deliver against its large-scale ambitions for accommodation with care and support across Surrey so that everyone has a place they can call home, with appropriate housing for all.

SCC are planning to install a number of lifts as well as staircases, to provide redundancy so that if a lift breaks down, there will always be a service to the upper floors. SCC are designing these homes for long-term living so that the flats can be adjusted to accommodate for residents’ changing needs and disabilities after moving in.

SCC is in the process of exploring different massing studies and roof shapes and which best accommodates the Solar panels which will form part of their sustainability strategy.

The homes will be offered on an affordable rental basis with the rent set at a level that can be met by housing benefit. Residents will be occupying the new homes under secure tenancies. There may be cases where people are not in receipt of housing benefit and may have limited means, but they will pay the same level of rent to ensure the homes are affordable for everyone. Unfortunately, it is too early to give a figure on how much the rent will be as housing benefit varies by location and is set regionally with periodic adjustments by government.

The site has been chosen specifically because of its proximity to community facilities, including the village hall, convenience stores, pharmacy, and GP surgery. There are no plans to make any changes to the location of those facilities within the Southern part of the village. There is a zebra crossing point between the local shops, pharmacy, and the village hall at the end of Brox Road. Further transportation planning studies will be undertaken as part of the next stage of the development.