Dozens of specialist apartments for retired people could be built on former school site - and they're all 'affordable'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A new retirement development boasting 72 affordable apartments could be built on the site of a former independent school. Specialist accommodation for the over-55s is proposed for the vacant Focus School site in Heaton Mersey, Stockport, with every flat available for Older Persons Shared Ownership (OPSO).

Plans submitted by developer Anwyl Partnerships include a four-storey block housing 37 one-bed and 35 two-bed apartments, to be run by an unnamed ‘local housing association’. The development would also include 10 ‘high quality’ semis for general market sale and replace the ‘run down’ old school buildings and also occupy the disused former school playing field.

Featuring a roof garden with long range views, planning papers say the proposed scheme would bring a number of ‘significant benefits’ to the area and wider borough. It states: “The development will help to satisfy the acute shortfall of retirement accommodation in Stockport, which has the highest proportion of residents aged over 55 in Greater Manchester.

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"The borough also has a need for at least 2,400 properties for the elderly without care.” The document argues the scheme would ‘[improve] the quality of life of residents, reducing isolation and pressure on health and social services through preventative means’.

The proposed apartment block is predominantly three-storeys in height but also has two four-storey sections. It also boasts a reception and residents’ lounge, while further facilities include an office, laundry, buggy store, plant room and refuse store. The main residents’ car park has 27 spaces - including six disabled bays - while there would be 18 spaces in a visitor