Derbyshire County Council votes to close Repton care home

Plans to close a care home for the elderly as part of a £200m scheme to build 1,600 flats have been approved by councillors in Derbyshire.

The county council's cabinet voted to close the 22-room Dales home in Repton on Tuesday evening.

It intends to replace the home with up to 50 apartments specifically for older people, on the Dales' site.

Over the next seven years, the county council intends to replace its existing care homes with extra care flats.

In February the county council cabinet approved overall plans to replace 20 care homes with flats for the elderly.

'Super care homes'

A council spokeswoman said the Dales' residents would be offered places at a new community care centre in Swadlincote, as one option.

"It is a brand new, purpose built centre which can cater for special needs such as dementia," she said.

"But residents will not just be left in apartments on their own. They will have the same level of care [as the Dales] wherever they choose to go."

Care homes earmarked for closure or demolition over the next five years include facilities in Belper, Ripley, Borrowash, Ashbourne and Chesterfield.

The council said it would also build two new "super care homes" in Darley Dale and Heanor, which would include hairdressers, a gym and extra provision for dementia care.

The county council will now submit plans to South Derbyshire District Council for permission to build the new flats.

The Dales is set to close within the next six months.