A FORMER north Durham residential home, once suggested as a hostel for asylum seekers, could re-open.

Hustledown House, in Wear Road, Stanley, has been vacant for six years and residents claim it is an eyesore and attracting anti-social behaviour.

It was once a Durham County Council-run home for the elderly, but the 40-bed unit was closed in 1992.

North-East company Gary Lewis Care has submitted plans to Derwentside District Council to open it as a retirement home once more.

The move has delighted residents, who have long campaigned for something to be done with the site.

Darren McMahon, a board member of Stanley Green Corridor Partnership, the body set up to regenerate the area, said: "It is an eyesore and a magnet for vandalism and graffiti.

"We will be pleased as punch if it comes off and that land is put to good use."

Council leader Alex Watson said: "It has been an eyesore for years.

"It is part of the gateway to Stanley and does nothing for people's first impressions."

Durham County Council closed Hustledown House 12 years ago, as part of a round of cost-cutting measures.

It was then leased to the doomed Parity Trust, a charity set up to integrate disabled people into the community through performing arts.

The county council evicted the troubled trust in 1998, after it ran up rent arrears of more than £16,000.

Derwentside District Council made an offer to take on the building, but the county council declined and sold it on the open market.

Since then it has passed through the hands of several private firms and at one time was suggested as a hostel for asylum seekers.

This year it was considered, then rejected, as a potential site for the Stanley Health Centre, to be built by Derwentside Primary Care Trust.

At one stage, the district council looked into issuing a Compulsory Purchase Order so it could take it on.

Gary Lewis, of Gary Lewis Care Centres, was out of the country last night and unavailable to comment.