Work has begun on the construction of the very first ‘extra care’ village in the Newcastle area – Mill Rise. Aspire Housing, North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Prima 200 North Staffordshire, are working together to provide first class health facilities, alongside housing and additional care and support at the village for the over 50s - giving people the opportunity to continue living independently in their own homes.
The village will host a new health centre with a pharmacy and 60 apartments, with a mix of one and two-bedroom accommodation. People will have the opportunity to rent or part-buy property, with the rest of the site being developed at a later stage by Bellway - providing 160 high quality homes.
Sinéad Butters, Chief Executive, Aspire Housing said: “We are thrilled to be working with the Primary Care Trust to pave the way for the first ‘extra care’ village of this kind in the area.
She continued: “Mill Rise will provide people with high quality housing to enable them to enjoy a better quality of life with access to vital services available to them in the village.”
A state-of-the-art health centre will be developed by North Staffordshire PCT which will act as a base for the three local GP practices in the Knutton and Cross Heath areas, offering services to all residents of these and surrounding areas. NHS dental services will be made available from the Centre, to address the specific dental health needs of the local population. In addition the new Centre will host physiotherapy, chiropody and podiatry services together with a range of community nursing services.
North Staffordshire PCT Chairman, Andrew Millward, said: “This excellent new development will, I’m sure, be warmly welcomed by the communities it will serve. Providing these facilities right in the centre of what is an area of high health needs is absolutely the right thing to do.”
The Mill Rise development will be set in beautiful landscaped surroundings and is being developed within the LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) scheme by Prima 200 in partnership with Aspire Housing and North Statffordshire PCT. It will be built to high design and environmental standards and will act as a catalyst to the wider regeneration of the Knutton and Cross Heath area.
“Prima 200 is proud to partner with these key organisations and agencies working together to meet the strategic objectives of delivering better services and improving the local area” said Ann Pursey, Prima 200’s Chief Executive.
A celebration event followed the official turf cutting ceremony, held at Knutton Recreation Centre, where partners supporting and funding the development attended, including RENEW North Staffordshire, Newcastle Borough Council and Staffordshire County Council.
Local residents went along to show their support and to view the plans for the village.
Mill Rise will host a number of other services, including a pharmacy, hairdresser, restaurant, hobby room and many others.
Building work is due for completion by summer 2009.
For any further information about the ‘Mill Rise’ development, please contact Suzie King, Project Manager by email at sking@aspirehousing.co.uk or call her on 01782 635 200.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Aspire Housing provides over 16,000 customers with quality affordable homes across North Staffordshire and South Cheshire.
Issued by Aspire Housing, Kingsley, The Brampton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire ST5 0QW.
For further details, please contact Wendy Dale, Communications Coordinator on:T: 01782 635200 extn. 4841; E: wdale@aspirehousing.co.uk; W: www.aspirehousing.co.uk
North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) is the NHS body responsible for health services for the 210,000 people living in Newcastle and the Staffordshire Moorlands.
The PCT directly provides a range of community nursing and therapy services - district nursing, health visiting, school nursing, speech & language therapy, physiotherapy and intermediate care - and is responsible for all GP practices, NHS dentists, community pharmacists and optometrists in the area.
The PCT also manages the community hospitals and health centres across its area. It continues to develop the range of community based services to provide care and treatment closer to home. For further details contact:
T: 01538 487234; F: 01538 487255; W: www.northstaffordshire-pct.nhs.uk
Prima 200
Prima 200 was established in 2005 and is the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) Company for the North Staffordshire area. The shareholders of this Public Private Partnership (PPP) are Stoke-on-Trent Primary Care Trust, North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust, Community Health Partnerships and Prime LIFT Investments Ltd.
Prima 200’s purpose is to develop improved facilities necessary to deliver modern, integrated health and social care in the region. Together with strategic partners, Prima 200 works to support an increase in primary care capacity, the provision of more accessible services and to support the integrated working of different agencies. For more information, visit www.prima200.co.uk
For further quotes/information, contact:
North Staffordshire RENEW –Janet Lee, janet.lee@tw4.stoke.gov.uk01782 232809
Newcastle Borough Council – Neale Clifton, Neale.Clifton@newcastle-staffs.gov.uk
01782 717717
Staffordshire County Council – Sami Turner, sami.turner@staffordshire.gov.uk
English Partnerships – Michael Howard, Michael.howard@staniforth.co.uk0161 9198034
