New threat to popular Hillfields residential care centre

A popular residential care centre in Coventry is under threat of closure again - just six months after it was saved.



The Aylesford Intermediate Care Centre in Hillfields, which helps people needing post-hospital care - is facing the axe under a new proposal set to go before councillors next week.

Council health chiefs plan to invest in new technology to help people live independently in their homes with tailored packages of GPS trackers and devices to detect incidents such as falls around the home.

The principle aim is to drive down costs by reducing demand for bedded facilities such as residential and nursing homes.

A plan has been outlined to improve at home support for people by extending the telecare service, a package of 24-hour alarm systems linked to an emergency support unit.

The council has been using telecare in a limited way since 1997 but plans to make it available free to anyone who needs it for up to six weeks following a hospital stay.

Telecare will also be used to support people living in the council’s Housing with Care independent living flats.

Over the next three years more than 3,000 people are expected to start using telecare in Coventry, saving the council more than half a million pounds in the first year, rising to £1.5million by year four.

However, it is envisaged the new strategy will make The Aylesford’s services redundant, along with 40 jobs at the centre.

Councillor Alison Gingell, the council’s cabinet member for health and adult services, believes greater use of technology is a positive move.

She said: “I think this is a really good use of new technology to improve people’s quality of life.”

The Aylesford is the only service of its kind in the city to cater for people needing short-term post-hospital care, and was originally earmarked for closure under a proposal to slash the council’s adult social care budget by £5milliion.

It was later saved when in December last year it was announced Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group had agreed to fund the facility until September 30 this year. A decision was later agreed to extend funding to March 31 next year.

However, it is expected the telecare scheme will render the service unnecessary before the funding period has ended.

At next week’s meeting, members of the council’s cabinet will be asked to approve going ahead with consultation over the centre’s closure and expansion of the telecare service.

Coventry City Council rubber stamp decision to close Hillfields care home

A care centre in Coventry will close after councillors agreed it was no longer fit for purpose.

The Aylesford Centre, in Hillfields, will close in April next year after Coventry City Council’s cabinet voted to shut it down.

It currently provides 25 residential beds for up to six weeks before people move back home after hospital treatment, but health experts said they would have to find £900,000 to continue funding the venue.

The city council will now take a ‘home first’ approach which aims to provide support for people in their own homes.

Short-term residential and nursing beds alongside short-term “housing with care” tenancies will remain available as part of the range of support.

Coun Ann Lucas, Labour leader of the council, said she had personal experience of the centre after her mother was cared for there, but agreed with the closure.

She said: “This is very close to me. My mum had great care in there, which sounds contradictory.

“But it is badly dated. It doesn’t have the setting of a home. These are bed units where the toilets and bathrooms are shared and there aren’t kitchens to practice cooking.

“I would have felt more secure if my mum was at home.”

She added: “If you’re not safe in your own home nobody is going to make you stay there.

“I worry there is a sense out there of people not understanding what service the Aylesford provides. It’s a short term service.”

Opposition Tory leader, Coun John Blundell, said he also agreed with the closure.

He said: “The Aylesford is probably not the best way of arranging care for people.

“I’m fully supportive and if it’s the right thing to do, we should do it.

“The report shows there is a much more effective way of caring for people.”

Plans to build student block on site of Coventry care home sparks anger



MORE student housing is being planned for Coventry – this time at the site of a recently axed council care home for the elderly.

Developers want to build 200-bed student accommodation at the site of the recently closed Aylesford Intermediate Care Centre building in Aylesford Street, Hillfields, which would be demolished.

A planning application has been lodged with Coventry City Council for a 209-bed three, four and five-storey block and parking.

A public consultation period ends on March 24.

It follows wide-ranging plans to develop student housing in the city centre and car parks – including nearby Cox Street car park and the car park serving Belgrade Plaza, which would also house new student accommodation.

Coventry City Council’s Labour leaders see the growth of the city’s two universities as bringing vibrancy and income, while helping boost the city’s population to above 400,000 by the 2030s to make Coventry a “top ten city”.

But Labour councillors for the St Michael’s ward, which includes Hillfields, say they have been contacted by unhappy residents.

Councillor Naeem Akhtar, who organised a meeting with concerned local people, said: “It was a shock when I first heard of the plans.

“I have no specific objection to purpose-built student blocks providing good, safe and affordable rooms for young people. However, to build one right in the middle of an estate which will overlook and overpower residents’ properties is unacceptable.

“On top of that, it is quite a distance away from the university so I’m not really sure just how viable the plan is.

“Residents have presented me with a petition which I will take to the council. I will also contact the police and see what they have to say. They deal with an awful lot of problems in the area and the last thing we should be doing is adding to that.”

Local resident Mrs Shanley, who lives in Adderley Street next to the proposed development said: “I am very upset with this plan. If this goes ahead, I will be looking directly at a brick wall.

“This part of Hillfields is a little cul-de-sac and this will totally overpower us. We will have over 200 young people right on our doorstep doing the things that young people do.

“It is far too many for the area to cope with. I am also worried about just what and who will be attracted to the area to prey on the youngsters.”

Coun David Welsh added: “Residents are concerned that whilst you can’t point to all young people causing problems with noise, parties and general anti-social behaviour, it is an inevitable consequence of such a building situated in close proximity to a settled community estate.

“On top of that, it will be the coming and going at all hours, the extra cars and the worry that this development will attract unwelcome attention.”

St Michael’s councillor Jim O’Boyle said: “It is worth saying I have supported far many more of these types of schemes than I have opposed. I’ve opposed them when they are in the wrong location because of the real impact they will have on the locale.

“It should be noted there are bungalows for our older residents right next door to the site.”

Hillfields student homes plan refused - because there's too much crime



A student accommodation plan for Hillfields has been blocked amid fears the students would fall victim to the area’s criminals.

Planning bosses have said no to knocking down the former Aylesford Intermediate Care Centre and replacing it with a 189 bedroomed student accommodation building.

An application by Harrow based developers Aylesford Coventry was turned down by Coventry City Council because of the area’s crime levels and the effect on the neighbouring building. It’s the second time an application for student accommodation on the site in Aylesford Street, Hillfields, Coventry has been turned down.

Explaining their decision in a planning report Coventry City Council planning bosses say: “The development will result in a significant number of students travelling on foot between the site and Coventry University campus on streets where there is a high level of crime.

“The proposal fails to demonstrate that it has achieved a high standard of design in terms of creating safe and accessible environments where crime and disorder, and the fear of crime, do not undermine quality of life or community cohesion.”

They also say the development would overlook the neighbouring Jacquard House to an unacceptable degree.

Coun David Welsh (Lab, St Michael’s) said in a letter objecting to the plans: “Hillfields is an area of the city with one of, if not the highest crime rates. The nature of crimes committed tend to be around drugs, violent crimes such as sexual assaults, antisocial behaviour and robbery; this is reflected in the available crime figures.

“The site is surrounded by alley ways which are rights of way, and roads where these crimes are already committed on a regular basis and I fear this will increase with the addition of more vulnerable young people in the area.

“The nature of student life means they will be coming and going from the site at the most likely times to be victims of such crimes. This area is already used for dealing drugs and again this is introducing a new market for something which is difficult to tackle as it is.

“The police are already under pressure in the area dealing with the night time economy and students walking home through some of the highest crime hot spots will add to this pressure on resources.”

The care centre was run by Coventry City Council for people well enough to leave hospital but not well enough to go home. It closed in 2015. Since then it has been empty apart from a small number of people living there and working as security guards.

So the council is admitting there are so-called 'No Go Areas" in Coventry?

So the council is admitting there are so-called 'No Go Areas" in Coventry?

Those of us that have lived here for a while know full well there are no-go areas in this city. The councillors that claim otherwise ought be made walk the city streets at night alone.