PLANS to demolish a former care home and build a replacement care home for people with learning disabilities and autism have been submitted to Darlington Borough Council.

The plans consist of six apartments with associated gardens and ancillary rooms together with a detached meeting building, parking provision, external lighting, replacement fencing, landscaping and associated works, at South Park Care Centre, Lakeside, Darlington.

The applicant is Elysium Healthcare Limited, which aims to "set new standards in the delivery of specialist care through a strategic network of sites which provide a complete pathway of care."

Read more: Primark prepares for summer opening at Teesside Park as latest plans approved

All the habitable accommodation is at ground floor level. The building has three duo-pitched roofs, the roof voids are used for services installation and distribution only.

According to a planning report: "The core purpose of the building is to provide mental healthcare, to this end we have developed a residential aesthetic that creates a caring environment to meet the needs of Elysium, the residents and the CQC."

Enjoy ad-light, uninterrupted content with a Premium Plus subscription to The Northern Echo. Click here

The building would be staffed 24 hours a day and no more than 18 regular members of staff would be on site at any one time.

The building internally has been zoned into clearly defined clusters for entrance on the north, staff zone in blue mainly in the centre of the building and the residential zone into the east and west wings.

Read next:

There is a separate meeting room with accessible toilet and kitchenette adjacent to the car park and entrance so that it is separate from the residential areas.

This proposal replaces an existing care home that has been unoccupied for a number of years with a new mental health care facility.

The scheme has been designed to provide best practice in mental health design in a purpose-built facility that renews and enhances a redundant site.