A CARE home has been given permission to turn a storeroom into a bedroom for a new resident. 

Sunnybank Nursing Home, in Griffithstown, Pontypool said using the storeroom as a living quarters would boost its current bed capacity, from 24, to 25. 

Torfaen Borough Council’s planning department gave the go-ahead and said there were no objections from its environmental health department. 

Planning officer Tom Braithwaite, said in a report: “The proposal would result in the nursing home’s care capacity increasing which would provide an additional space for an elderly resident in need of care.  

“The additional bedroom does not raise any unacceptable impact upon public and residential amenity given the site’s existing use as a nursing home, and an increase in capacity of one person does not represent a significant intensification of the use detrimental to the area.” 

His report said though the highways department hadn’t commented it was unlikely the additional bedroom would result in any increased demand for parking. Mr Braithwaite wrote: “Given the unlikelihood of the additional nursing home resident being in a position to own a vehicle, the parking provision as existing is considered sufficient.” 

The home’s application said the conversion is due to a “drastic increase” in demand for its beds with the home specialising in care for those with dementia. 

It says its existing 24 units are single rooms with their own en-suite showers and various memory aids such as memory boxes outside the door, and are also able to receive the internet and have nurse call buttons. It said the design of the storeroom “lends itself well” to the change of use which can be achieved with “minimal building work”.