Seton Hall, Berwick-upon-Tweed

Site occupied by an existing residential care home and associated vacant land. Situated at the edge of Berwick, the surrounding land is mostly industrial and commercial in nature. Interface with the surrounding uses will have to be carefully considered in the design of a housing scheme. The site has been identified for redevelopment for a number of years. Demolition of the existing care home may be necessary prior to redevelopment, depending on the nature of scheme proposed. Previous proposals have included the provision of a new care home to replace the existing facility. The intention of this would be to renew the outdated social housing stock with more suitable accommodation. An initial scheme of 45 residential units was approved in outline in 2015 (11/03407/OUT). This also included consent for a 60-bed care home (C2 use). The units in the latter were not to be self-contained flats, so no net gain to stock would result from this aspect. However, this permission lapsed due to non-implementation. More recently, developer interest has been revived and a new application was approved for development of 58 homes in 2023 (21/04453/FUL). All 58 units are affordable homes, to be managed by Bernicia. Site works commenced in 2024. The whole scheme is set to be delivered in the next five years.