House elderly in student campuses instead of ‘islands of misery’ care homes
This is one of the biggest issues facing rural local authorities. The story tells us, a panel of experts chaired by the former Care Minister Paul Burstow, is calling for a shake-up of planning rules and the way care is organised to “reinvent” the idea of care for the baby-boomer generation. They have published a report following a yearlong commission recommending new housing for elderly and disabled people should be incorporated into city centre shopping developments, fashionable new apartment blocks and college campuses to prevent future generations of older people being cut off in care ghettoes. Thousands of hectares of unused land owned by NHS trusts or the Ministry of Defence could also be put to use for new developments containing care homes and retirement villages while disused office blocks could be converted to cope with demand as the population ages. The report cites a new retirement community in a rural area in North Yorkshire which has become the hub of village for people of all ages with a Post Office, shop, restaurant, hairdresser and hall used for yoga classes and fairs.