News Care home victory for Holland House site
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The Holland House Action Group claimed an outright victory this week after a leading nursing home provider bought the property following a year of negotiations.
Yorkare Homes Ltd, a family-run company based in Brantingham near South Cave, finally sealed the deal on Friday, much to the joy of the action group, who have been campaigning for more than four years to see the return of much-needed nursing care beds to the site.
In a multi-million pound refurbishment, Holland House, which will go under another unknown name when it reopens, will have at least 46 care beds for people with nursing needs, a possible Elderly Mentally Infirm (EMI) unit and independent living accommodation on the grounds.
The Holland House Action Group (HHAG) began their campaign when PD Services bought the home four and a half years ago from the then owner, Mrs Holland. PD Services later joined forces with Lloyds TSB and Venture 3i, one of the world's leaders in private equity, to turn the house into a secure unit to cater for people with personality disorders, which would have involved taking in patients from high-security units such as Broadmoor and Rampton.
However, the company was unable to obtain registration to operate the facility after they had already refurbished it and were ready to accommodate residents for a period of two years. The company eventually went into liquidation and the site was sold.
John Garton, director of Yorkare Homes Ltd, said: "We are extremely pleased to have finally completed the purchase of Holland House and to re-open the home for residents of Goole and local areas.
"We have some exciting multi-million pound plans for the site, starting with the conversion and refurbishment of the current property.
"We also hope to extend the property with state-of-the-art facilities to create the highest quality home in the area, as well as including the development of a number of assisted living units on the site - obviously subject to planning approval."
Goole MP Ian Cawsey, who has supported HHAG's campaign from the start, said: "There is no doubt that this is a very welcome move, not just bringing in more care home provision in our area but also ending fears about the future use of the building.
"This has been a long, long campaign but if it all comes to fruition as planned then it will have all been worthwhile and much praise must go to the action group and all the support that has been given by the local community."
Keith Moore, chair of HHAG, said: "We have achieved the ultimate. It is tremendous news. This is a momentous victory for not only the action group but for the community who have fought long and hard for this result."
He added: "The support, hard work and determination by this community must be unprecedented anywhere in the country. To sustain a campaign and raise so much funding over a period of time is indeed remarkable. Let nobody take this community for granted again."
Yorkare Homes will begin work on the building and expect to be receiving their first residents in January next year.
Mr Moore added: "We would like to wish Yorkare Homes every possible success with their new venture and will assist them in any way we are able to. We would like to thank Broadley's Printers for all their help with the campaign leaflets and the person who made an anonymous donation of £10,000, which really did save our skins. We would also like to thank every person in the community who signed the petitions or dipped into their pockets and raised all the money to allow us to continue our work.
"I would also like to thank the Goole Times for all their support, because I don't think we could have done it without the publicity they have given us.
"It just shows what people can do when they all pull together."
A public meeting will be held in a couple of months to update the community on the plans.
Pictured are the Holland House Action Group celebrating the news (14-08-63 GT)
Published on 14th August 2008 in News.
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