By Eddie Bisknell

Plans for a new care home in Swadlincote town centre are set for approval.

The application, from Yorkshire firm LNT Care Developments, would see a 66-bed care home and eight retirement apartments built on the former South Derbyshire District Council depot in Darklands Road.

District council planners have recommended that the application is approved at a meeting on Tuesday, February 4.

If approved, the plans would create 58 jobs.

In December 2018, the council approved plans for a care home, supported living apartments, a KFC drive-through and a 200-cover pub and restaurant run by Marston's Inns and Taverns.

Plans for the former depot date back to 2006.

The care home and apartments are the first chunks of the approved outline project to come back with detailed plans.

Plans submitted by the Yorkshire firm would see a three-story care home built on the site with residential care and assisted living and care for adults.

Meanwhile, two two-storey buildings containing eight supported living apartments would offer a largely independent style of care – but with support on hand if and when required.

LNT says it specialises in the development of care facilities for older people and has a number of care homes across Yorkshire, Lancashire, the Midlands and south of England.

It says it aims to provide a "high quality of life for residents".

Derbyshire County Council has "raised concern in respect of an oversupply of residential care beds" in the area.

As part of the plans, the developer would pay £14,208 to improve facilities at the nearby Swadlincote Surgery.

District council officers, recommending approval, wrote: "This is an important gateway site where the proposed development would improve and enhance the character and appearance of the area whilst also providing notable economic and social benefits, and assist in delivering the mix of housing needed in the district.

"The proposal would facilitate the re-use of an underused and currently vacant site.

"Vacant sites within the urban area are considered to be the most appropriate locations to support higher density developments to ensure an efficient use of land in the most sustainable locations.

"The comments of the county questioning the need for additional care beds in the district are noted – but as with any sustainably located 'windfall' site be it traditional residential accommodation or care facilities need is catered for by the market and as such there is no objection to the scheme on this basis."