PLANS for 12 special care bungalows for older people next to a nursing home at Leeming Bar, near Bedale, are expected to be approved next week.

NHP Management wants to build the "close care" bungalows, representing a halfway house between housing and a residential nursing home, for people aged 55 and over in a redundant and overgrown former walled garden behind Leeming Garth, in Leeming Lane.

Leeming Garth, established in a large former country house, has operated as a residential nursing home for almost 20 years, but the proposal is designed to relieve pressure in its services.

NHP Management said it had identified a clear need, supported by the county council social services department, for an additional and different type of health care for elderly people who want to live in their own homes, enjoy an independent lifestyle and build their own community. A decision was deferred in April by Hambleton District Council so members could visit the site, outside village development limits, and receive more information from NHP Management about links between the existing nursing home and the new bungalows, the proposed catchment area, the level of need and the lease arrangements.

The company has now given a draft undertaking that the bungalows will be available for lease only and that ownership will be permanently tied to the nursing home.

Bungalows will be initially marketed to residents of Leeming Bar and neighbouring parishes and then to people in the wider Hambleton district if all the units are not taken up locally.

Planning officers say the development would improve an untidy area of land.

The parish council has objected to the scheme because it believes it would be out of character with the area.