Who is planning a care home near us?
Is anyone planning a new care home, an extension or a conversion near our home, how big is it, and how far has it got?
The planning pipeline lists every planning application for care homes, nursing homes and extra care in England from the last three years: new builds, extensions, changes of use to care and homes being lost, with beds where the application states them and the decision so far. Filter to your council and district, see what is approved and what is still waiting, then judge whether the district needs the beds or whether a newcomer will fill from your residents.
When people use it: Every month, and as soon as you hear of a site, a planning notice or a new build near you.
How it works, step by step
New care homes in planning
Every application for a new care home or nursing home in the council over the last three years, newest first, with district, beds, status and the date it was submitted or decided. Each row links to the council's own planning record, so you can read the plans, the operator named in the papers and the conditions.
Only the ones still to come
Applications awaiting a decision: these are the homes you can still comment on, and the ones that may open in two to three years.
Extensions and conversions too
A competitor adding 20 rooms matters as much as a new home. Switch the type to extensions, then to change of use to care, to see beds added to homes that already exist and houses or offices becoming care homes.
The pipeline on your council dashboard
The planning pipeline section totals beds approved and beds awaiting a decision, and the homes being lost, so you can see the net change coming at a glance.
Does the district need the beds?
Set the new beds against the district's need. A district already short will absorb a new home; one with beds to spare means the newcomer fills from existing homes, and self funders first.
The views you will use
Ask the data in plain English
A real question and answer from Ask Orrery, the assistant inside the platform, for a care home owner in Kent (October 2026). It answers only from Orrery's data and the subscriber's own documents, and shows its sources.
Yes, there are several care home plans in Canterbury district. Only one states a bed count, and it is still waiting for a decision. This covers applications since October 2023 (council planning records via PlanIt, matched by Orrery). Permission is not a building, so none of these is guaranteed to open.
Approved (no beds stated on any)
- New build: a three-storey care home, reserved matters (landscaping) approved 17 Nov 2025. It follows outline permission CA/23/02115.
- Change of use, CT2: offices to a residential care facility, approved 17 Sep 2026.
- Change of use, CT2: guest house to a residential care unit, approved 3 Feb 2025.
Waiting for a decision
- 72 beds: outline application to change a light industrial and storage site to a 72 bed care home. Submitted 11 Nov 2025.
- Change of use, CT6: a care home at Albany Drive, with a new two-storey building linked to No. 48. Submitted 10 Jun 2026. No beds stated.
- New build: reserved matters (landscaping) for a three-storey care building, submitted 11 Jun 2025. No beds stated.
- Large mixed-use schemes: up to 1,350 dwellings including older persons housing (submitted May 2025), and a site with a secondary school (submitted Feb 2024). I can't see a care home bed count in either, so they may be only a small part of those sites.
Totals: 72 beds are stated across everything pending, and 0 beds across everything approved. The true figure is probably higher, because most applications don't state beds.
Homes being lost: two approved conversions (including Footprints, 10 registered beds, CT3) and one pending conversion of a former care home.
What it means for you: the 72 bed scheme is the clearest competitor to watch. The approved new build and the CT2 conversions could add supply too, but their size is unknown. You could check the council planning links for beds.
Open in Orrery: /app/pipeline?area=kent&status=approved&months=36 and /app/pipeline?area=kent&status=pending&months=36
The guide "Is new supply already coming before we build?" (pipeline-before-you-build) may also help.
More questions you can ask
- “Which Kent districts have the most care home beds approved or awaiting a decision, and how does that compare with the beds each district will need by 2030?”
- “Build a two page report on new care home supply coming in Canterbury: planning applications, beds, status and the district's need for beds, with a table.”
Ask, chart and report, in plain English
Ask Orrery answers from Orrery's data, draws charts on request and builds reports you can save as PDF. These are real examples for Kent.
- Planning permission is not a building. Many approved schemes are never built or take years; watch for reserved matters and conditions being discharged, which show a scheme is moving.
- Beds come from the application description and are missing when it does not state them. Open the council's record for the full plans before you act.
Answer this for your own councils
Subscribers get every guide, chart and projection for all 153 councils, Ask Orrery with private uploads of their own files, and every council report.
See plans
