A high-end rural Herefordshire care home says building new accommodation in its grounds will ensure it has the staff it needs.

Though employing over 80 staff, the 46-bedroom Brockhampton Court Nursing Home currently lacks accommodation for live-in carers.

“With little to no affordable rental accommodation available in the surrounding areas, nursing staff are currently brought to site via multiple cars or bus from surrounding towns such as Hereford and Ross-on-Wye,” a statement accompanying the planning application explains.

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The home is now seeking planning permission for three cottages, each of which would have en-suite accommodation for two members of staff with shared living and dining areas.

They would be within a single-storey red brick building with pitched roofs, its design “taking several architectural cues from the main house”, the application says.

This would be next to the grade II listed care home, while a lodge in the ten-acre grounds, and the separate Church of Holy Trinity, both also grade II listed, are nearby. The area lies within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

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“Since the pandemic, it has become extremely difficult for Brockhampton Court Nursing Home to find sufficient carers and nurses for day and night cover,” the application adds.

The home currently relies on agency staff, “but this is not a viable answer for its future financial stability”, given that an agency nurse now costs nearly £50 an hour, and double that on bank holidays.

“It has become imperative to provide on-site accommodation if the home is to remain an outstanding example of care in Herefordshire,” the application concludes.

Comments on the planning application, numbered 231300, can be made until June 22.