Their plan to build a 114-unit retirement village on the site of the old Morling Lodge (pictured) in Red Hill, 4km from Parliament House, has finally been approved in a mammoth 82-page decision handed down by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The NSW and ACT-based Not for Profit originally lodged their application back in 2010, but after five neighbours complained, it was rejected twice before being taken to the Tribunal.

They built a 160-bed aged care facility in nearby Griffith while the 22,600sqm Red Hill site sat empty.

The neighbours objected to its “mini-village” design. “They were talking about making it so you didn’t have to go anywhere out of this village,” Melissa Bennett told The Canberra Times.

The changes achieved in five years? The village units dropped from 114 to 100, an attic was removed and a taller fence will be built.

In a statement, BaptistCare stated the obvious: the development will help to ease the looming shortfall of seniors housing in the ACT.