Lease agreed for new "visionary" care home in Leighton Buzzard - which will be run by council-owned company

The 63-bedroom Marigold House is being built on the former police station and magistrates court site in the town centre.

A 25-year full repairing and insuring lease arrangement for the premises in Hockliffe Road is to be completed with Care is Central Residential Limited.

Care is Central was created in 2020 to operate care services within Central Bedfordshire. The local authority’s executive decided in April 2021 that the council-owned company will be lead operator for the Marigold House development.

CBC owns Marigold House and will grant a lease acting as the landlord to Care is Central as the tenant, according to a report to the executive. “This lease of the asset wasn’t presented to the appropriate CBC scrutiny committee, as it isn’t considered to be of public interest or controversial,” said the report.

“The agreement with Care is Central Residential Limited will be on a 25-year full repairing and insuring lease. The total rent payable by the company will be established by an independent Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) red book valuation, once the detailed lease terms are finalised.

“CBC intends to sublease one small management office at Marigold House from the firm for its own use. The operation of the new care home will generate jobs in Central Bedfordshire and enable Care is Central to expand.

“The company will provide care services to support people to live their best lives in accommodation that meets their needs. It aims to help residents enjoy active, healthy, and independent lives, while providing the right care at the right time for those in need of support.

“To comply with UK competition rules, the lease terms between the council and its own company need to be based on a market rate.”

The council is replacing a number of outdated care homes, such as Westlands Residential Home.

Presenting the report to the committee, Independent Leighton Linslade West councillor Steve Owen described it as “a fairly standard 25-year full repairing and insuring lease”.

Independent Leighton Linslade West councillor Russ Goodchild welcomed the update, saying: “This project has been a close concern of mine for a while.

“I hope with the signing and approval of the lease it doesn’t prevent the continued derogation of cost and programme overrun by members.”

Independent Leighton Linslade West councillor Victoria Harvey said: “I know there’ve been some real issues with cost and managing this.

“But we should give some credit to officers, such as Tobin Stephenson, who had the most brilliant vision of how to give the best care possible to people in a care home. It’s visionary, it’s really exciting and I think we should be really proud it’s coming to fruition.”

The executive agreed the lease arrangement, and for officers to negotiate the terms for the lease “authorising the completion and execution of all related legal documentation”, added the report.