Work resumes at Belong Birkdale care village

WORK at Belong Birkdale, the new state of the art care village on Oxford Road, has resumed this month following the dementia care specialist's appointment of Whitfield and Brown to complete the ₤19 million project. Preparatory work has now commenced at the site close to Southport Town centre, ahead of the building works restarting in April 2022. The Widnes based contractor has been selected for their experience and expertise in specialist dementia accommodation, and take over from Cruden Construction which went into administration at the height of the Pandemic 2 years ago.

Scheduled to open in summer 2023, Belong Birkdale will provide a high specification home for over 100 people, comprising 74 beds divided across 6 households with 24 hour care and nursing support, as well as 30 1 and 2 bedroom independent living apartments, which will be available to buy or rent.

The village will offer a vibrant setting for a number of amenities for customers and the local community, including a bistro, hair salon, exercise studio, function rooms, and a specialist day care service. Belong's award-winning home care service, Belong at Home, will also operate from the site.

The development has been made possible through Belong's partnership with Octopus Real Estate, part of Octopus Group, and has been designed by leading architects, Pozzoni Architecture.

Chris Hughes, Belong Interim Co. Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer, said:- "We're delighted to be working with Whitfield and Brown for the completion of Belong Birkdale. Their track record will be invaluable in bringing to life the vision for our 1st coastal care village."

Gareth Hadfield, Deputy Managing Director at Whitfield and Brown, said:- "As the principal contractor, we're looking forward to working with Belong. We know that the Birkdale village is highly anticipated in the community, so we're excited to get on-site and progress work rapidly to finish what will be a magnificent care environment."

Jon Murphy, Operations Manager at Whitfield and Brown, added:- "As a resident of Southport myself, I'm proud to be heading up such a prestigious project which will be of great benefit for local people for years to come."

Stavros Criticos, Investment Manager at Octopus Real Estate, concluded:- "We're thrilled to be back onsite at Belong Birkdale. It is a much-anticipated project that brings together the shared expertise and values within Octopus Real Estate and Belong, delivering a high quality care village for the local community."

Belong Birkdale will be the group's ninth location, following the opening of Belong Chester, this spring. Both join the not for profit organisation's established care villages across the North West in:- Atherton, Crewe, Didsbury, Macclesfield, Newcastle Under Lyme, Warrington and Wigan.

Health Care Workers face a ₤90 million combined car parking bill for NHS Car Parking

HARD up NHS staff face a whopping ₤90 million combined car parking bill, from Friday after the Conservatives reintroduced charges. Figures from NHS Digital show in the financial year 2019/20; the year before charges were lifted for the Pandemic; health workers paid ₤90.1 million in car parking fees. Workers in the Midlands paid out the most, forking out ₤18 million in the year, followed by the North West (₤17 million), then the North East and Yorkshire (₤16 million). Following sustained pressure from GMB Union, the Government suspended car parking charges for health workers during the Pandemic. But from Friday, 1 April 2022, NHS workers across England will once again be forced to pay to park at work, after Health Secretary Sajid Javid quietly announced they would be reintroduced.

Rachel Harrison, GMB National Officer, said:- "It's almost like the Health Secretary has a personal vendetta against NHS staff. During the worst cost of living crisis in a generation he's hell bent on forcing them to swallow yet another real terms pay cut. Now follows the real insult to injury, he's making them pay to park at work. Health workers are on their knees following a 2 year Pandemic; they need help and support, not being repeatedly kicked when they are down by the Government. GMB calls on the Government to restore this funding and on employers to do the right thing and scrap the reintroduction of local parking charges."

Staff car parking revenue in 2019/20 by NHS Commission Region:-

EAST OF ENGLAND - ₤10,733,484

LONDON - ₤8,249,712

MIDLANDS - ₤18,041,120

NORTH EAST AND YORKSHIRE - ₤16,264,589

NORTH WEST - ₤17,483,391

SOUTH EAST - ₤11,141,382

SOUTH WEST - ₤8,184,535

TOTAL - ₤90,098,213

The source of the statistics for the NHS Digital, Estates Return Information Collection, 2019/20 can be seen in the NHS website.