BUILDING is well under way on a controversial £7.7m care home for vulnerable people.

Work on the three-story, 51-flat extra care housing facility, at Ashlands Drive, in Northallerton, started last month.

The project, which is being partially built on previously green land, had come under fire at the planning stage, when more than 60 concerned local residents signed a petition objecting to its progression.

Objectors said the development will not fit in with the surrounding housing estate, which is mainly single-storey bungalows.

Concerns were also expressed over a potential loss of privacy.

The development, which is expected to be opened in May next year, is being developed by Broadacres Housing Association in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council, Hambleton District Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.

Broadacres directors Derek Law and Paul Lightfoot, along with the group’s chairman, Brian Mayne, visited the site earlier this week to check on its progress.

The development will have 51 self-contained two-bedroom apartments, along with a hair and beauty salon, restaurant, housing and care support offices and a shop.

The home is being built on the site previously occupied by the Ashlands Day Centre, which catered for people with learning disabilities.

A sound and light room and fully accessible changing facilities will be incorporated into the new building once complete.

It will add to the existing county council-owned respite centre for people with learning disabilities that is located adjacent to the site of the new scheme.

Mr Mayne said: "Our development at Ashlands Drive is on schedule to be opened in May.

"The facilities will be first class and will be a great centre for the local community."

Mr Law, the group’s director of adult and community services, said: "It is great to see the building of the new extra care facility coming along so well.

"The development will replace the Oak Mount Elderly Person’s Home, in Northallerton, and will provide the residents and local area with fantastic amenities which will become a real hub of the community where they can meet and socialise.

"This will be our 13th extra care facility in North Yorkshire and it will allow older people to live independently for many years to come."