SPALDING councillor Christine Lawton attacked a company’s plans to extend a care home, saying residents would live in “attic rooms” without a view of the outside world.
Apex Care Ltd wanted to build 19 new bedrooms along with communal areas at The Bungalow Care Home in Park Road, Spalding.
But councillors unanimously rejected the plan, saying it was overdevelopment of the site.
They were also concerned about insufficient parking, the “amenity of the proposed building” and potential impact on neighbours.
The proposed rooms would have been on two floors, with first-floor accommodation housed in the roof.
Coun Lawton told Wednesday’s planning committee the proposal involved boosting the number of bedrooms from 28 to 47 with no extra on-site parking.
She criticised plans for roof lights and obscured glass in windows in the first floor rooms.
Coun Lawton said: “That sounds like attic rooms to me.”
She was concerned for potential future residents and said: “Let’s hope they don’t want a room with a view.
“For the residents of this home, to have that many bedrooms shoe-horned into this space, seems to me to be quite unacceptable.”
Coun Bryan Alcock understood the roof lights and obscure glazing were included to protect neighbours’ privacy, but wanted to know if the planning committee was willing to condone elderly people living in bedrooms with obscure glazing.