FUNDING has been confirmed for a flagship extra care housing scheme for elderly people in Wensleydale.

North Yorkshire County Council, Richmondshire District Council, the Housing Corporation and the Department of Health are jointly funding a £5m development in Bainbridge.

The new scheme will replace the Sycamore Close sheltered housing complex, run by the district council, and the county council's High Hall care home.

The extra care housing scheme, which blends elements of both offering residents a degree of independence in one or two-bedroom flats with their own bathrooms and kitchens - but with staff on call 24 hours a day. The new complex will also include a cafeteria, a hairdressers, a treatment room, shop and lounge.

Councillor Murray Naylor, the county council's executive member for social services with special responsibility for older people, said: "Extra care housing schemes are the way forward as they allow older people to live as independently as possible, but have all the care and support they need on hand.

"I am very pleased that, working with our partners, we are now in a position to provide the benefits of an extra care scheme for communities in a largely rural area like the Upper Dales."

Ward councillor John Blackie said the scheme was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for the area.

"Family connections in the Dales extend back generations and it will come as a great relief to the local communities that their loved ones can be cared for close at hand in their later years."

District ward councillor, Yvonne Peacock, said: "There has been a long history of caring for people from all over the Dales in Bainbridge.

"This new scheme, which I'm thrilled about, will continue this tradition.

"It is good to see the county council and the district councils continuing to work in partnership to provide this care as they have done for our older residents in the past."