COUNCIL leaders in North Yorkshire are to be asked to spend £500,000 to help progress plans for the future of care for elderly people.

North Yorkshire County Council is planning to put a network of 56 extra-care housing schemes in place over the next ten years, cutting the care costs involved in running ageing elderly people’s homes. The new schemes are intended to allow older residents to continue living at home through self-contained accommodation, such as bungalow estates and retirement villages.

The region already has 15 such schemes, which have allowed ten care homes to be replaced, and 12 more are in the pipeline including in Helmsley, Pickering, Harrogate and Thirsk.

A report to be discussed by the authority’s executive next week has recommended using £500,000 from its “pending issues provision” fund to draw up a business plan for the project, which will see external financial advisors being brought in. The executive will also be asked to reserve up to £3 million from this fund to meet the programme’s potential costs, including finding a partner organisation to deliver the 29 remaining sites.

The overall extra-care network would have at least 2,574 accommodation units, and may see the county council earmark sites worth between £6 million and £7 million for facilities. The public sector would provide land and buildings and private investment would be attracted.

The council would retain responsibility for residents’ ongoing care costs In the report, Helen Taylor, corporate director for health and adult services, said elderly people’s homes were outdated and expensive to run and maintain and even a major refurbishment programme would not provide the space, standards and specialist treatment needed.

“This programme offers an opportunity to deliver modern, fit-for-purpose accommodation which enables care need to be met within communities,” she said.

“The provision of extra-care accommodation may also create opportunities for providing better facilities for other services.

“The scheme at Thirsk, which is already under way, includes a new location for the town’s library.”

The report said there was “genuine interest” from outside organisations in the extra-care programme, and potential sites for the facilities include its five remaining elderly people’s homes and two which have closed, as well as five resource centres which provide short-term care.