New Peterborough care facility at former sports centre to open in 2021

A 68 bed care home will be built at the site of the former Woodlands Sports and Leisure Centre in Castor, creating up to 60 full time and part time jobs.

The facility will be run by Country Court Care which has its head office in Millennium House, Dukesmead, Werrington. It currently operates several local care and nursing homes including Rose Lodge in Market Deeping and Tallington Lodge near Stamford.

The company said: “The new care home will offer luxury residential and dementia care with state-of-the-art facilities.”

The care home will be built on the site of the existing all-weather pitch and will include staff apartments, 24 assisted living units and a community hub.

Residents will be able to make use of day space as well as a hair salon, gym, shop and café, with social activities, events and classes also being run.

Moreover, the former leisure centre building will be converted to provide 24 assisted-living apartments and day care space, on top of a shop, pharmacy, kitchen facilities and office space.

There will be 207 parking bays and charging points for electric vehicles.

Country Court Care said the new jobs will include roles for care assistants, senior carers, housekeepers, maintenance assistants and activity champions.

The long-vacant sports centre and its grounds have been sub-leased from Nene Park Trust to allow for them to be re-developed.

The trust, though, has retained the sports pitches to the west of the main building which it has brought back into public use.

Andrew MacDermott, trust head of development, said: “One of Nene Park Trust’s core purposes is to provide facilities for recreation and leisure, and in 2017 we developed a plan with Peterborough City Council that brought the sports facilities at Woodlands back into use and secured their future. This was only viable if a commercial partner was committed to developing part of the site.

“We have already made significant improvements to the sports pitches in partnership with three main clubs who now regularly use the facilities with many other clubs who have benefitted from using the site.

“This includes resurfacing the cricket square, installing new sight screens and purchasing new covers, and establishing five new football pitches covering a wide range of ages. We are currently working with the clubs and local partners to create new permanent facilities to provide for sports use and a range of other community uses.”