AN ageing sheltered housing complex in Wensleydale should be replaced by a £5m purpose-built extra care scheme, councillors have agreed.

Richmondshire District Council has voted to demolish the outdated accommodation at Sycamore Close, in Bainbridge, to make way for the new facilities.

If the project goes ahead, the development will include self-contained homes and flats designed to help the elderly maintain their independence, although nursing care would still be available to those who need it.

Residents from North Yorkshire County Council's High Hall residential home in the village will also be offered accommodation in the new complex, while the old building will be sold off as housing.

The project has already faced one setback when a bid for grants from the Department of Health was rejected.

Richmondshire District Council's community committee was told a similar bid has been submitted to the Housing Corporation and the authority's officers are confident of a more positive outcome.

Housing unit manager Colin Dales said: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we miss it now, I don't think the upper dales will get the opportunity again."

The district council hopes to keep disruption to a minimum by building the extra care homes in phases.

The first would involve demolishing three bungalows to the west of Sycamore Close while the residents moved into the main building of the complex.

Once units are complete, all the residents would then move into them, leaving the way clear for the demolition of the main building at Sycamore Close to make way for the second phase of the development.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire County Council has emphasised its use of a former residential home in Pannal, near Harrogate, is only temporary.

Pannal Grange closed in the mid 1990s, despite a vigorous campaign to save it from the axe and there were echoes of the controversy when a public meeting was held recently to discuss options for the future.

The building reopened recently to house residents from Knaresborough's Manor Grange where work has begun on an extra care scheme. But council chiefs insist Pannal will close again once the Knaresborough project is complete as it no longer meets standards required from residential homes.

However, a planning brief posted on the county council's website yesterday suggests modernisation alternatives have not been ruled out.