Go ahead for nursing home

Despite six letters of objection to the scheme being lodged with the Planning Service, the go ahead was given for the 76 bedroom private nursing home on the Causeway End Road in Lisburn.

The nursing home, which is specifically for people with dementia, is the brainchild of Lisburn businessman Trevor Leckey, who was left paralysed following an horrific motorcycling accident several years ago.

Trevor Leckey, who owns Stoneyford Concrete, decided he had to do something after watching a documentary about the way people with Alzheimers and dementia were being treated in homes in America.

Speaking when the planning application for the scheme was submitted last year, Mr Leckey said he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to help and this is when he came up with the idea of building a nursing home on his land at the Causeway End Road area of the city.

Mr Leckey is delighted to have received planning permission so quickly.

The project, which is expected to cost in the region of £4.5 million, is a huge challenge for the father of five but he says he has the support of his family.

Speaking last year Mr Leckey said: “There is a serious need for a facility like this and if it was someone I knew who had dementia I would want them to go somewhere like this.”

Trevor was competing in a circuit race in Aghadowey when he lost control of his bike and crashed into a metal pole, severing his spine and leaving him unconscious for almost two months in the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Despite undergoing physiotherapy at Musgrave Park Hospital, he never regained the use of his legs but he has never lost his determination to do everything he could to walk again.

Despite his injuries and the pain he endures each day, Mr Leckey is determined to not let his personal battles get in the way of his dream.

“I’m passionate about this and I have the site sitting there so I might as well put it to good use.

“I have spent a year researching this and I know there is a demand for it. Some people have to travel miles to see loved ones with dementia so having this on their doorstep would make so much of a difference.”