A new health and social care hub is being planned as part of a regeneration project in the west of Barry.

Vale of Glamorgan Council cabinet members gave their backing on Thursday to expand the Barry town centre western gateway scheme to include a health and social care hub, mainly for older people, as well as affordable housing at the Gladstone Road Bridge compound site.

The cabinet report said phase one of the scheme originally included the relocation of Broad Street clinic and affordable housing on the upper floors.

But it said there is currently a significant funding gap associated with the clinic element of the scheme.

The new approach would be a partnership between Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Vale of Glamorgan Council and it would make this element of the scheme eligible for Welsh Government funds, but further work will need to be done including additional design and cost planning and service and business planning.

In June 2021, the cabinet endorsed the Barry town centre western gateway regeneration project.

The plans for phase one back then proposed the development of Gladstone Road Bridge compound site into an apartment block of 46 affordable older persons homes and 520sqm of accommodation for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (UHB), which would enable the relocation from their Broad Street clinic.

Phase two includes the Broad Street clinic development site and it proposes the demolition and clearance of the existing clinic and construction of 34 affordable homes.

And phase three includes plans for public space and active travel improvements at Gladstone Road roundabout junction.

The proposal is for phases one and two to be delivered by Vale of Glamorgan Council as part of the house building programme through the partnership agreement with Lovell Partnerships.

Originally, the affordable housing was to be 100% funded by the housing business plan, supported by social housing grant.

Accommodation for the health clinic was to be funded by Welsh Government’s transforming towns grant worth £1.6m.

And the public realm and active travel enhancements at Gladstone Road Bridge roundabout junction were to be funded by a Welsh Government
transforming towns grant.

In November 2024, a cost plan for the project was prepared which revealed that it would cost significantly more than originally anticipated due to rising cost inflation associated with the challenges and constraints of the brownfield site, a revised scheme layout and having completed a more advanced design for the scheme.

It said the increase in cost relating to the affordable housing could be met by the housing business plan, additional social housing grant, value engineering, and reconsidering the number of apartments which collectively would still deliver a financially viable scheme.

But in terms of the health element, the cost of the clinic is currently estimated to be £3,119,235. Taking account of the £1.6m Welsh Government transforming towns grant towards the clinic, this equates to a shortfall of around £1.52m.

An initial request was submitted in April 2025  to the Regional Partnership Board (RPB) for a Health and Social Care Integration and Rebalancing Capital Fund (IRCF) grant to cover the funding gap for the scheme.

But the RPB raised concerns that the scheme would not meet the terms of the fund in its current form as an integrated health and social care hub.

The clinic is Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan wide on an appointment only-basis and not a Barry based service like a GP or service offering wider health and social care services integrated with council or third sector services.

The report said the university health board has provided reassurance that they remain committed to this scheme.

However, they have also said that they do not have any capital funding to contribute, other than the land receipt which they will ascertain from the council for phase two (the existing clinic site).

This capital receipt would be based upon an independent valuation of the land.

But the university health board said that they will need the capital receipt from this land for the fit out of phase one, so without support from the RPB there remains a funding gap based upon the scheme as originally proposed, the cabinet report said.

The report focuses on minor amendments to phase one to overcome the concerns raised by the RPB.

Vale of Glamorgan Council’s leader, Cllr Lis Burnett, said: “It’s an ambitious scheme but it’s proving challenging to get it over the mark in some ways because we know exactly what we want to deliver and if we compromised on that we could probably deliver faster, but that wouldn’t necessarily be the right scheme.

“We could have delivered a straightforward housing scheme if we hadn’t delivered the health. But we know how important having a health facility in the centre of the town is.”

She said that by putting in a health and social care hub they could create a more collaborative model of social care and health which would serve the people of Barry more effectively.