Plans for a 75-bed care home previously labelled a "prison for the elderly" have been resubmitted on a former hospital plot.

Developers also hope to build seven three-bedroom houses on part of the ex-Ashford Hospital site off A28 Chart Road.

Strutt and Parker, on behalf of Frontier Estates and NHS Property Services, has resubmitted its proposal to Ashford Borough Council (ABC).

The authority rejected the bid in August 2022 before it was then dismissed at appeal by the Planning Inspectorate last year.

If the revised scheme is rubber-stamped, the care home would support those suffering from dementia and needing end-of-life care.

Forty-four car parking spaces are included in the project, with 70 members of staff - split between 35 full and part-time employees - set to be employed at the home.

Developers originally put forward the mixed-use plan in 2019, but ABC’s planning committee threw it out due to fears over the care home's design and issues around parking.

Cllr Linda Harman (Ashford Independents) described the previous plans as “hideous”, adding the design was “yet another prison for our elderly people”.

The bid was then refused on appeal in January 2024 due to the absence of a nutrient mitigation strategy - something which would have impacted the Stodmarsh Nature Reserve near Canterbury due to the creation of excess, and harmful, nitrogen and phosphorus materials.

However, the resubmitted plans note this has been negated by developers pursuing off-site mitigation in the form of a credit scheme.

Such credits would be secured through a legal agreement and a non-refundable deposit, subject to the signing of a Section 106 agreement.

Stodmarsh Nature Reserve has been affected by wastewater run-off from developments across east Kent causing high levels of harmful nitrate and phosphate nutrients.

As a result, rules set down by Natural England insist developers must ensure all schemes in the River Stour catchment area are “nutrient neutral” - either by having an on-site water treatment facility or offsetting the impact by providing mitigation measures elsewhere, such as wetlands.

“This application is a resubmission of the previously refused scheme which was dismissed at appeal,” Strutt and Parker said in planning documents.

“This revised application seeks to address the sole reason for dismissal of the previous application which was due to the absence of a nutrient mitigation strategy and the subsequent impact on Stodmarsh.

“The scheme remains identical in all other respects.”

If ABC approves the revised scheme, the seven houses would be accessed via Kings Avenue, while drivers visiting the care home would use an entrance off Chart Road.

Ashford Hospital fell into disrepair in 2009 when services were moved to the William Harvey, but the building in Kings Avenue has now been turned into flats.

To see more planning applications and other public notices for your area visit the Public Notice Portal.

An update on the application is expected by July 7.