A CONTROVERSIAL plan to create 61 apartments for the elderly - making it the largest building in a South Lakeland village - has been compared to a prison by a councillor.

The multi-million pound scheme, on 0.6 hectares of farm land in Flookburgh, would have increased the population of the Cartmel peninsular village by 18 percent.

But members of South Lakeland District Council's planning committee decided it would see too many people crammed into too small a space and rejected the proposal.

Among the councillors opposed to the scheme was Michael Cornah (Conservative, Cartmel), who proposed rejection and described it as 'HMP Flookburgh'.

A report created by SLDC officers said 500 extra care housing units are needed in Cumbria by 2025. There are currently none on the Cartmel peninsular, it said.

The proposed three-storey development entailed apartments with one or two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living and dining area.

The block, built on land off Manorside, would also include communal kitchen and dining spaces, a hair salon, a 'wellbeing area' and parking.

The apartments were earmarked for affordable rent or affordable shared ownership, and would include a range of care options provided by the developer.

Applicants Housing and Care 21, which also has similar accommodation at Oxenholme, told the meeting that the development would help address the shortfall in affordable housing for the elderly on the Cartmel peninsula.

It was heard 61 apartments was minimum for it to be financially viable.

Housing and Care 21 had secured £2.118m of Homes England funding, a £723,000 Cumbria County Council grant and allocated £500,00 of its own grant funding for the site to be viable.

Speaking at the meeting, deputy leader of Cumbria County Council Ian Stewart appealed for the committee to grant the application permission.

He said: "Houses with extra care available are desperately needed in the county. These homes would provide affordable, independent living for vulnerable adults in the area.

"Please support this application and let the council achieve its ambitions of providing for the county."

However, the design was met with criticism by many committee members.

Cllr Janette Jenkinson (Conservative, Ulverston, said: "I am passionate about housing for the elderly and a big believer in providing extra care. We do need to provide people with the option to downsize affordable.

"But people are living longer and healthier lives, and so they need quality housing in order to be able to do that.

"I think we can get a much better design that what we have here. This one is over-intensive.

"If it was less intensive I think more people would want to live there too.

"There needs to be some quality about how we treat our elderly people and the places we provide for them to live."

Seventy-nine letters of objection were submitted to SLDC. Lower Holker Parish Council objected to the fact that the design was not fitting with the surrounding area, neither was the scale of the apartment building, and Cumbria County Council's highways and drainage departments also supported refusal.

One letter was sent in support.

Councillors voted 10 in favour of refusing planning permission. Three were against and there was one abstention.