AN ELDERLY couple are pushing ahead with their plans for a care home in Hawes after launching an appeal against a decision to refuse planning permission.

Graham and Mary Watts have been fighting to move ahead with their plans for a 40-bed extra care facility since early 2013 – but in October last year the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority rejected the application because members felt the location was not suitable.

Mr and Mrs Watts, who are aged 93 and 80, are now in the hands of the planning inspectorate, who will review all documentation for the application and make a decision by the spring.

The application is for a two-storey ‘L’-shaped building at Tufty Hill, Hawes, with double and single self-contained flats aimed primarily at the elderly.

Communal facilities including a lounge, dining room, coffee lounge, library and doctors' surgery were proposed.

However, the application was rejected after planning officers suggested it was not suitable for that location and would be intrusive on the landscape.

Officers also agreed with Hawes and High Abbotside Parish Council that the proposed site was on a hill too steep for elderly residents, and it was too far away from the town’s GP surgery.

Mr Watts said it was too early for him to comment on the appeal which is in its early stages.

The couple said at the planning meeting in October that the hill on the road was not as steep as had been stated.

They added: “This is a major opportunity to provide the town with a facility already urgently required by many elderly folk and their families, and would release many homes to the market.

“The site is secluded but a natural part of an urban area. It is capable of offering residents quiet enjoyment of a location they can be proud of.”

The couple have previously said they have considered a variety of schemes.

They added: “In the end we have been shown that there is a real need in Hawes for an extra care home, along the lines of Sycamore Hall, in Bainbridge, and where there can be additional facilities beyond a normal old people's home.”

In 2010, North Yorkshire County Council predicted a need for 30 new extra care schemes in the county up to 2020 - including the equivalent of three schemes in Richmondshire.