PLANS for a new care home in Langland have been allowed on appeal and the family-owned company behind the project is hoping to make a prompt start.
The 36-bed home will be built on land off Clifflands Close, which leads onto Langland Road, and consist of a new three-storey building linked at ground-floor level with a former nursing home which had been partially converted for use as holiday let accommodation.
Plans for the care home were submitted to Swansea Council in 2021 and led to a handful of objections including from the management company of a block of adjacent flats on privacy and road safety grounds.
The applicants, which run nearby Brynfield Manor and Newton Grange care homes, appealed to the Welsh Government in August 2025 because of the time being taken by the council to make a decision. The following month the council turned the plans down on the basis that a satisfactory access could not be created. The applicants also appealed the refusal decision.
Planning inspector Richard James, of Planning and Environment Decision Wales – formerly Planning Inspectorate Wales – visited the site last month and has concluded that the development can go ahead subject to conditions.
He said vehicles would access the care home via an existing private lane which would merge onto Clifflands Close to create a new two-way lane with pavements either side. The plans also include 12 parking spaces to serve the care home and a new turning area.
Mr James said the current Clifflands Close-Langland Road junction only had one car width and the proposed alterations would “substantially improve” its ability to deal with the extra vehicle movements that the care home would generate.
He concluded that the merging of the private lane onto Clifflands Close would not be significantly harmful to road safety.
Although Mr James described the planned parking and turning area at the care home as constrained he said the applicants would use a private company to collect waste and could arrange for a small refuse lorry to serve the development.
The inspector upheld the appeal and imposed 12 conditions. These include that the access work at Clifflands Close is carried out before the care home is built and that two care home windows are fitted with obscured glass to maintain privacy for the adjacent apartment block.
Jason Banfield, a director of family-run care home company Langland Care Ltd, said: “We are very pleased and can now move forward. There is such a high demand for care homes.” He said the aim was to start work once “a few formalities” had been dealt with.
He said costs were being sought from the council in respect of the time taken for a decision to be made. This will be the subject of a separate decision by the planning inspector.
