MAJOR changes are on the cards for a York village as councillors are poised to approve a significant new development.

New Earswick’s Red Lodge care home is likely to be torn down and replaced with a complex of 129 sheltered housing or “extra care” apartments and 44 care suites, and with the new development also engulfing the village’s tennis courts, play area and the old library building, further changes are on the way.

Next Thursday, councillors on City of York’s planning committee are being urged to approve the Red Lodge redevelopment, as well as an application to build two replacement tennis courts and a multi-use sports pitch at the village’s sports ground, and alterations at the Folk Hall.

The plans will see New Earswick Tennis Club relocate to new pitches at the sports club, but some people have objected to the redevelopment taking the club out of the centre of the village.

Objections have also come from York Outer MP Julian Sturdy and three ward councillors - Keith Orrell, Carol Runciman and Chris Cullwick.

They are all concerned at the loss of open space, with much of the green space used by people in the village set to disappear under the new buildings.

The MP has also raised concerns about the plans’ impact on New Earswick’s conservation area and the historic garden village.

Those concerns have been echoed by some residents in New Earswick, who have written to the planning department, angry that the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust’s plans for the village will see them lose the open space.

On top of that, people who live in homes to the north and west of the site told planners they were worried the new buildings would overwhelm and overshadow their homes.

However, the written planning report says Red Lodge’s current 1970s building is “not entirely sympathetic” to the original Garden Village, and does not meet modern standards for care.

It also says the designs have been changed since they were first published to lessen the scale of the development - with some parts relocated and the plans cut down to two storeys; and even though some “informal” open space will be lost, the benefits of redeveloping the Folk Hall and providing better accommodation at Red Lodge outweigh that harm.

Other objections also came from the tennis club and Sport England, worried about seeing the well-established tennis club disappear under the new buildings, but now the new site has been found and plans made to build replacement courts at the sports ground, those objections have been withdrawn.

When the plans first emerged early last year JRHT’s executive director John Hocking said they were part of the trust’s vision to help older people looking to downsize, and would in term help families by freeing up bigger homes.

The plans would also “future proof” the care home so that residents can stay in their homes as their needs change.

The new extra care and care homes places also feature in the council’s wider overhaul of accommodation for older people.