| Lust
for life - life begins at the Retirement Village... |
Retirement
villageBy next year there'll be more people drawing a pension in the East
Midlands than there are children under 16. One in four people who live
here are over 55, and by 2021 that figure will be it will be one in three, according
to National Statistics.
Yet there's a huge shortage of quality housing
for older people. To help fill the gap a charitable trust called Extracare
is building its biggest ever retirement village in Clifton, Nottingham at a cost
of 拢49 million. Two hundred and two apartments and 93 bungalows will
be built around country club style facilities including a restaurant, fitness
centre with spa pool, craft rooms and a well being area. Fans say these
communities fill a big gap in the market; critics worry they'll widen the gulf
between young and old. Lifestyle choices Nottingham
Retirement Village - Fact File | How
to Apply - to register your interest in the village, call 0870 777 4800 and ask
for Jan. She will be able to keep you informed as the village develops and
will let you know when application forms are available.
For more information
about ExtraCare Villages visit
The village will be developed on 14 acres of land (with an extra 10 acres
of parkland) between Barton Lane and Clifton Lane in Clifton. It will comprise
over 300 apartments and bungalows providing homes for more than 400 residents.
Each property will have its own front door, kitchen, living room and one or two
bedrooms. Properties will surround a number of communal facilities including
a fitness gym, restaurant and bar, spa pool, village shop. arts and crafts centre,
village hall, IT suite, hairdressing salon, library, greenhouse, woodwork shop
and well-being centre. Properties will be available for purchase, part-purchase
and affordable rent. An ExtraCare specialist benefits advisor will ensure residents
are able to apply for support with their housing and care costs. People
wishing to apply will need to be over the age of 55 and living within (or have
close connections to) the Nottingham City area. Eligibility criteria will be laid
down by Nottingham City Council and The ExtraCare Charitable Trust. Residents
will have a 'home for life', each with their own support worker and with access
to a well being centre with a dedicated Village nurse. All properties will be
fully accessible with up to 24-hour support available if needed. Currently,
the village could be completed by 2009. Local people over the age of 55
(in the Nottingham area) will be able to use facilities as part of a Friends Club.
A 拢500,000 local appeal has been set up by The ExtraCare Charitable
Trust to help fund facilities in the Village Centre. To support the appeal, contact
ExtraCare's Louise Hadley on 0772 055 3669. The cost of the development
will be 拢49m. |
To investigate, we asked two couples
from Clifton to decide whether the retirement village would work for them. Flo
(74) and Norman Knight (76) don't want to leave Clifton but would like more of
a social life. Joan (74) and John Ball (82) are looking for activities
on tap. Both couples feel older people have a lot to offer. "They
stereotype us and they discriminate against us. "People seem to think
that because you've gone grey, you've lost your brain as well," John told
us. "Older people need to feel valued. We want more out of life as
we get older, not less, more!" The Extracare charitable trust has built
a reputation for keeping older people active and independent. Our couples
visited the newly opened Beacon Park village in Lichfield. Here residents
help run the bar, shop and restaurant as well as enjoying the IT, fitness and
craft facilities. Everyone has their own apartment with their own front
door but care and support is available 24 hours a day. "Everyone seems
so happy and friendly," said Flo. "Independence and friendship
is what we all want and that's what they seem to have here." Joan and
John asked about costs. Manager Jenny Falconer told them a lot of people
think the villages are for the wealthy, but half of the apartments are for rent
and many residents have few resources and rely on benefits to help them meet costs. Purpose
built retirement communities started in the States and are now springing up in
countries across the world. And they have their critics. Anna Minton
from the thinktank Demos says it's a shame older people want to live in segregated
communities: "Surely we should be seeking to build balanced
communities that reflect society at large."
But
Karen Croucher from the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York says
her research shows residents feel more secure in this environment and are more
likely to try new activities: "[These villages] are not
utopia but they offer older people a choice, an alternative, and there aren't
that many once you get older so on the whole I think they're a good thing."
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