THE future of an empty care home in Andover has been called into question after the county council temporarily closed the facility last year.

Copper Beeches assisted living home in Woodlands Way was one of two care homes closed by Hampshire County Council last year due to “workforce challenges”.

Now, signs have been positioned in its windows advising people that water and other amenities to the building have been shut off.

This has led Test Valley councillor for Andover St Mary’s, Cllr Iris Andersen, to call for answers about its future. 

She said that it is a building with “potential” and that she would like to see it utilised as soon as possible.

She added: “I know it was a very difficult decision for them to make, but I just feel like there is a good building sat there, and we just need to know what is actually going to happen to it.”

Cllr Andersen suggested the building could be used to help alleviate housing waiting lists.
In December, the county council’s member for adult services said the authority would not be closing the care home.

But a spokesperson has since added that deliberations on Copper Beeches are “ongoing”.

You can read the full story and reaction in this week's paper. Also in this week's edition:

  • A heating oil company left a Barton Stacey family ‘running on vapour’ after it mistakenly delivered their home heating oil into the tank of a post office in a completely different village.
  • Fewer complaints were made to Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) last year, figures reveal.
  • Half a dozen schools across Hampshire were closed this week following Covid-19 outbreaks.
  • A former Andover town councillor ‘groomed and sexually abused a child’ over a number of years, a court has heard.
  • Planting is well underway at a farm in East Cholderton as 83 trees are arranged to form the Haydown Link. 
  • Police visited a number of ‘cuckooed’ addresses in Andover as part of a week of action to disrupt county lines networks and the supply of drugs across Test Valley. 
  • Environmental charity Andover Trees United is celebrating after being awarded funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.
  • The developer behind 82 new homes in Overton have said work will start shortly after it was given go-ahead following appeal. 
  • PLUS: Two pages of YOUR letters
  • PICTURES: Andover catches BMX fever
  • Kit Malthouse MP's March column
  • An eight-page puzzle special
  • Entertainment news
  • Sports news
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