THE proposed Grove Farm senior care village scheme in Llanfoist has just won an industry sector award.

The scheme, which aims to have affordable retirement homes for the over 55s and an onsite nursing care unit as well as a large range of complementary facilities, has been selected as the Most Outstanding Continuous Care Community Plan in the UK for 2012.

The award was made at a presentation held at Westminster by the Over 50s Housing Weekly, the industry's leading journal, which reviewed more than 20 of the top proposals in the UK that offered continuous care to the elderly.

The judges were most taken by 'mixed housing for all, an involvement with local interest groups and sheltered housing amidst open natural farmland'.

They said, "The Grove Community visionary approach to positive health through body and mind engagement offered the best way to prolonging an enjoyable retirement."

The award was accepted by Ben Jones, the owner of Grove Farm who paid tribute to his team, which included Abergavenny based design consultants Williamson Associates, planning consultants Nathaniel Lichfield Partners of Cardiff and the SEREN Group, Newport, social housing providers.

A proposal to adopt the Grove Farm scheme into Monmouthshire's Local Development Plan as part of the authority's requirement to allocate sites for 4,000 new homes was defeated recently by 25 votes to 15. In a written statement the authority said, "The reasons for not including a special care housing allocation for the elderly is that this type of housing has been adequately provided for in Monmouthshire in recent years."