HGNL Woking recently hosted a consultation event over proposals to redevelop Lion House on Oriental Road.

The present Lion House would be demolished and a 76-bed residential care home providing specialist dementia and respite care built in its place.

The new care home, two and a half storeys in height with dormer windows in the roof, would be a purpose-built facility where residents will have en-suite bathrooms within their own rooms. There will also be shared community spaces for residents to enjoy.

According to lionhousewoking.co.uk, a website setting out the plans in more detail, “a new, purpose-built care home would provide much needed support and facilities as well as demolishing an old building that is no longer needed”.

The car home building will use the previously developed land where the current Lion House building and current car park is located as the footprint for the new building.

Vehicle access to this new care home will be from the eastern boundary of the site, where the road joins the Oriental Road roundabout at the existing access to the current car park.

A dedicated car park will be provided for the new care home with 30 parking spaces, including two accessible parking spaces, a delivery bay, a dedicated ambulance bay and cycle storage for 10 bicycles.

This car park will serve staff and visitors of the new care home, as expected residents of this care home will not be car drivers.

The design of the parking and access arrangements for this proposal have been designed with accessibility at its heart. Entrances to the building will be level ensuring step free access and widths to properly accommodate accessible entry.

Ward councillor Ellen Nicholson posted on social media: “Lion House is situated on Oriental Road, sharing an entrance to the Lion Retail Park, so many of my questions were related to proposed traffic flow of lorries during a development and to traffic management in an already congested area.

“No planning application has been submitted as yet, but residents can comment on the proposals if they wish.”

Any feedback on the proposals can be submitted via a form on the lionhousewoking.co.uk website, and HGNL stresses it is keen to hear any comments.