PLANS to transform a former nursing home into a block of flats will be considered by councillors tomorrow.

Members of Teesdale District Council's development control committee will discuss proposals to turn the former St Peter's House Nursing Home into five residential apartments.

The red-brick Victorian building, in Gainford, was a residential school before it became a nursing home. The home closed recently.

The plans have been given tentative support by Gainford and Langton Parish Council, which met last month to discuss the scheme.

Parish councillors decided to support the proposal in order to stop the building becoming derelict.

If the plans are approved today, the former nursing home, which is off the A67 on the eastern side of the village, will be transformed into five one, two and five-bedroom apartments.

Council members will be advised to reject the application by planning officers, on the grounds that it would be better used for employment than housing.