PLANS have been submitted to open a private residential home for the elderly on the site of a council-run care home which closed last year.

Helen McArdle Care, which already operates 17 care homes across the North-east, has lodged a planning application to open a 55-bed care home on the site of the empty Grampian House, in Peterlee, which shut its doors last year.

The 20-bed residential home was one of five run by Durham County Council, alongside similar homes in Stanhope, Ferryhill, Belmont and Chester-le-Street, closed due to the high running costs.

Now the authority has confirmed that the property is under offer and a planning application has been submitted to demolish the two-storey building and build a new 55-bed residential home on the town centre site.

Durham County Council is expected to decide on the application over the next few months and, if planning permission is granted, the company hopes to open the new home towards the end of 2016.

The proposal would see the 1970s-built building in Grampian Way knocked down and replaced with a new two-storey building, which would provide residential, respite and dementia care for the elderly.

Nigel Dawson, managing director of Helen McArdle Care, said: "We are proposing a two-floor, 55-bedroom care home in Peterlee, designed by our in-house architects and interior designers.

“Our aim is to provide a unique, purpose-built living space, to ensure that residents have a great quality of life and that they receive the very best care.

“Once the home is fully operational we will be employing 50 staff from the local area.”

The proposed new unit would have 25 ground-floor bedrooms, 12 of which would have direct access to a shared garden, and 30 first-floor bedrooms, each with en?suite facilities, TV, telephone and computer points.

There would also be lounges, dining rooms, a beauty salon and other support services, with staff on site 24 hours a day.

The planning application for the 0.68-acre site also includes communal garden areas, with lighting and a 16-space car park.

The family-run company, set up by Helen McArdle MBE, says that over the next 18 months it plans to open two more care homes in Newton Aycliffe and a third in Jesmond, Newcastle.