A COUNCIL has dropped plans for specialist housing for frail over-85s in favour of 30 family properties.

When Feniscliffe Bank old people’s home closed in 2014, Blackburn with Darwen Council identified the three-acre site for sheltered accommodation for 60 very elderly residents.

But problems over accommodating bats living in the building delayed plans to sell the land between Tower Road and Hillcrest Road near Pleasington Playing Fields and Witton Park to a specialist developer.

Now the council has submitted an outline planning application for 30 ‘high-quality’ houses on the site.

If the proposal receives permission it will be easier to sell and attract a higher price.

It will allow the demolition of a building described in the application documents as a ‘significant eyesore’.

News of the change of heart has received a mixed reaction from local Tory councillors.

Livesey with Pleasington’s Cllr John Pearson said: “I support this scheme. It is a good idea.

“However I will want to look closely at any detailed planning application to make sure it does not encroach onto the playing fields.”

His ward colleague and Tory regeneration spokesman Cllr Derek Hardman said: “This is typical of Blackburn with Darwen Council.

“All it wants is the council tax income. It sets a target for housing and is now seeking to build more than that target to maximise revenue.

“It needs to look more at the mix of homes it is providing in terms of cost and age bracket as many older people want to downsize.”

Meadowhead’s Cllr Keith Murray said: “I am not keen on this plan. “The council is just after the money from developers.

“I would like to see new homes on the site aimed at the over-50s.”

Cllr Phil Riley, the Labour council’s regeneration boss, defended the move, saying new schemes for elderly and frail residents had been developed since 2014 including the Each Step complex in Infirmary and at Albion Mill in Ewood and the Shorey Bank village for the elderly in Darwen.

He said: “Things have moved on.

“This is a really good previously built-on brownfield site of the sort the council wants to develop.

“It is an ideal location for the family homes there is a market for in the borough.”