A FORMER care home branded an eyesore by residents could be demolished.

Hustledown House, in Wear Road, Stanley, has been vacant for six years.

It used to be a Durham County Council-run home for the elderly, but the 40-bed unit closed in 1992.

North-East company Gary Lewis Care has submitted plans to Derwentside District Council to use the site as a private residential home.

The proposals would see the existing rundown building flattened, and a purpose-built, 72-bed centre erected in its place.

Along with a two-storey property, the plans also include 22 car parking spaces.

One letter of objection has been received from a resident in Wear Road, saying it would increase parking problems in the street, which also serves Stanley Day Centre.

Durham County Council closed Hustledown House 12 years ago, as part of cost-cutting measures.

It was leased to the Parity Trust, a charity set up to integrate disabled people into the community through performing arts.

The county council evicted the troubled trust in 1998, after it ran up rent arrears of more than £16,000.

Derwentside District Council made an offer to take on the building, but the county council declined and sold it on the open market.

Since then it has passed through the hands of several private firms and at one time was suggested as a hostel for asylum seekers.

This year it was considered, then rejected, as a potential site for the Stanley Health Centre, to be built by Derwentside Primary Care Trust.

At one stage, the district council looked into issuing a compulsory purchase order so it could take it on.

Planners are recommending its development control committee approves the scheme, when it meets in Consett Civic Centre on Thursday.