Demolition of former Leighton Buzzard care home set to start within next four weeks

Extra security measures are being deployed to protect the premises, according to Central Bedfordshire Council. It authorised further protection after anti-social behaviour incidents and an arson attack at the three-storey building in Duncombe Drive.

Westlands was one of five care homes owned and operated by the council that were built several decades ago and which were considered “to no longer meet the expectations of customers and regulators in terms of facilities and accommodation”, CBC explained in 2017.

The local authority has been criticised over delays in resolving the future of the former care home, with one local councillor claiming on social media that ongoing expenditure and overheads have been costing it £5,000 a week.

CBC said in a statement: “This demolition work is expected to begin within the next four weeks.

“Before that can take place, we must comply with planning and environmental requirements, as well as health and safety laws. We’re currently also waiting on Nature England to complete a survey, while the health and safety executive (HSE) has to provide licences for the safe removal of asbestos.

“Additional security measures have been implemented to protect the area in the meantime, after incidents of anti-social behaviour and an arson attack. The council will continue to monitor these safety procedures.”

The Westlands Residential Home site has been vacant since August 2025, added CBC.

Independent Leighton Linslade West councillor Victoria Harvey told a full council meeting last month that Leighton Buzzard members have been “seeing tens of thousands of pounds being spent on security at Westlands”.

She suggested that “CBC can’t get its act together to decide whether to demolish it or not, having refused to let the local community use the premises”.

Conservative Heath and Reach councillor Mark Versallion posted on social media about the overall expenditure on the building.

Currently “£5,000 a week of our taxes is being spent, when it needn’t be,” he wrote.

“I visited the mothballed care home and day care centre and spoke to a security guard. He and his colleagues have been guarding the building for months now, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“CBC’s long-awaited demolition, so this expense can be saved, has been delayed again, after years of waiting. It was meant to happen at the end of August, then mid-September.

“I’ve raised the issue again. With all the overheads and fires costing about £5,000 a week, who at CBC is in charge of this and do they not feel obligated to stop wasting our money?

“Either demolish it and send the security guards home or let the many community, artistic and cultural groups in our locality use it. But my modest expectations are now so low that I wonder if the Independent administration is capable of getting on with it.

“Have any of them run a business when it’s their own money on the line?” he asked. “If they had, they’d have sorted this months ago.”