Plans for a care home expansion have received doctors’ backing despite claims from people living nearby that it could put significant strain on nearby roads and create “unpleasant smells”.

Ahead of an Epping Forest District Council meeting on Wednesday (November 25), a number of people have opposed the plans for Forest Place care home in Roebuck Lane, Buckhurst Hill.

Home director Jayanti Patel hopes to significantly increase the number of rooms and offer more full time jobs.

Forest Place currently has 106 rooms and 92 full time staff, but the plans could see an additional 75 spaces and 82 per cent more staff.

The expansion could see the home rise up to four storeys in some areas, and would require large parts of existing buildings to be demolished.

Fourteen letters of objection have been written to the district council about the redevelopment, including claims that it would cause “a dramatic increase in traffic on Roebuck Lane,” and would produce “unpleasant smells from kitchens”.

Local residents have said there is not enough off-street parking, and a new two-storey car park would be “unsightly, inadequate and incompatible with the residential street.”

Despite the objections, local GPs and St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping have backed the plans.

They said: “There is a need for the development in the locality and a need to better manage the complex needs of older people.”

Responding to peoples’ concerns, Mr Patel said the expansion’s impact on the surrounding area would be minimal.

He said none of the residents use cars and so will not be creating extra traffic, and added that any potential for “unpleasant smells” would be considered in building regulations after planning permission is granted.

The decision will be made at the meeting at 7.30pm at Roding Valley High School on Wednesday.