A MAJOR new care home creating around 100 jobs has been backed at a prominent site in Grays that has been the subject of much controversy and debate over recent years.

The site in question is former allotments land at the side of Orsett Road in Grays and adjacent to Dell Road. It has been regarded as an open 'green space' with no development on it in any records going back more than 200 years.

Thurrock Council's planning committee is being advised by officers to approve an application for an 82-bed, three-storey care home on open land at the junction of Dell Road and Orsett Road, just a short walk from Grays town centre and railway station. The scheme is being led by Dell Road Developments Limited.

The care home will be set out on two and three floors. 33 car parking spaces are provided, plus provision is made for cycle parking. A new site access junction is proposed from Dell Road. The proposed operator is the Artisan Care Group, an established care home operator. 

The site was granted planning permission for 37 homes with a large single care facility specialising in dementia, palliative and respite care in March 2025

The planned and approved layout for homes and a smaller care home on the site., passed in March last year.

Planning officers say the proposal will make a significant contribution to meeting a growing shortfall in elderly care places in Thurrock, citing evidence that hundreds of additional care home beds will be needed locally over the coming years.

The home would be registered with the Care Quality Commission and run by an experienced national operator, with all bedrooms having en-suite facilities and residents sharing a range of communal amenities including dining rooms, a cinema room, spa bathrooms, lounges and landscaped gardens.

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The report highlights the scheme's sustainable location on the edge of the town centre, with easy access to Grays Town Park, bus routes and rail services.

It concludes that the care home will help free up family housing elsewhere in the borough as older people move into specialist accommodation, supporting overall housing supply.

About 100 permanent jobs are expected once the home is operational, alongside temporary construction employment.

Concerns raised during consultation focused on the loss of overgrown open land and wildlife habitat, traffic and parking pressures, and the three storey building's impact on neighbouring homes.

However, detailed daylight and sunlight studies submitted by the applicant concluded there would be no unacceptable overshadowing or loss of light, and Essex Highways has not objected, subject to conditions on access design, parking layout, a travel plan and a construction management plan.

The development will be required to make a financial contribution under the Essex Coast RAMS scheme to mitigate any additional recreational pressure on the Thames Estuary and Marshes Special Protection Area, and to deliver at least 10 per cent biodiversity net gain through on site landscaping and/or off site measures. Planning officers say they can identify no harms that would outweigh the benefits and recommend approval subject to detailed conditions.

The land was cleared by Thurrock Council before it took it to the market for sale.

The land, which once comprised allotments that gradually fell out of use, was previously owned by Thurrock Council. In February 2023 the council, which had stripped and cleared the land of trees and hedgerows in 2019, announced it was on the verge of completing a sale to the private sector.

The application is due to be debated and decided at Thurrock's planning committee on Tuesday (24 February).