More than 200 older people in Newtown, Birmingham, are preparing to move into Pannel Croft Village – the ExtraCare Charitable Trust’s second retirement village in the city.

The scheme has been developed as a partnership between Birmingham City Council, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Department of Health and the ExtraCare Charitable Trust. The HCA has invested £9m into the 180-home project.

Among the residents moving in will be Sylvia McCormack (64) and Millicent Gobbinsingh (59). Millicent is hoping to enjoy the benefits of living in a community. She said: "People have asked me why I'm moving in here when I’m relatively young. But why not? You’ve got to prepare yourself when the opportunities are there for you to take. When opportunities like this come, you've got to jump in and enjoy life. I'm sure we have some great parties planned when we move in!"

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Sylvia and Millicent were joined by Chief Executive of the ExtraCare Charitable Trust, Nick Abbey, ExtraCare’s Head of Trustees, Martin Shreeve, Cllr Steve Bedser, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing and Anne-Marie Simpson, Head of Midlands Central for the HCA.

Pannel Croft Village has 180 apartments, each with a hallway, living room, one or two bedrooms, a kitchen and a shower room. All homes have their own balcony or access to shared patio areas.

Homes surround a community-based village centre with 18 health and leisure facilities, including a restaurant, bar, village hall, wellbeing centre, IT suite, craft room and greenhouse.

During its development the village provided more than 200 construction jobs, with around 10 training placements. Around 30 village staff have been recruited locally to provide care, hospitality, housekeeping and activity services.

(CD/GK)