Home plan next to Keynsham Health Centre

PLANS have been submitted to build seven houses on surplus car park land next to Keynsham Health Centre.

Aequus Construction Limited (ACL), which is owned by Bath & North East Somerset Council, is seeking full planning permission for the properties, which would be sold on the open market.

ACL says the four-bed properties in St Clements Road would provide much-needed housing for the local area.

It proposes building four different types of homes to create a variety of designs across the site.

Each property would have its own landscaped front garden, and a side or back garden, as well as parking for two cars, electric-vehicle charging points, and timber-clad storage for four cycles.

ACL says the proposed homes would be in a sustainable location and would comply with B&NES Council’s zero-carbon operational requirements.

One person who objected to the application, which will be decided by B&NES Council, was disappointed that the homes were being built for the open market.

They said: “The Homesearch list continues to grow and people like me accrue years wait time and get nowhere. I shouldn’t get pushed out of a town I was born in.

They added: “The housing is a complete mess in Keynsham currently and all I see is fancy market homes that no-one can afford and a growing list of people in desperate need of cheaper rented homes.”

The site is next to the former Treetops care home, which became a magnet for anti-social behaviour after closing in 2018.

A fire in May this year destroyed the complex, whose ruins were subsequently levelled. The site has planning permission for 36 flats in two three-storey blocks.