A MASSIVE development in Christchurch could provide homes for more than 120 elderly or infirm people and provide improved day care for adults with learning disabilities.

The multi-million pound scheme has been proposed by Dorset County Council for a four-acre site off Jumpers Road.

Part of the project will involve building a replacement for the Juniper Centre which provides day care and teaches life skills to people with learning disabilities.

The site also takes in the greenfield next door to the Juniper Centre.

Overall the scheme will provide space for an 80-bed care home providing a mixture of residential, nursing and rehabiliative accommodation and three bungalows and 41 flats providing independent living for older people.

Young and able-bodied people will also be catered for in the new development.

There will be six link terraced affordable homes for shared ownership and a block of a dozen key worker flats for rent to those employed in the caring service.

The replacement Juniper Centre will also provide a social care and health calling office plus parking for 111 vehicles, care and equipment store and boiler house.

Gill Slade, Dorset County Council's head of strategic commissioning said the replacement for the Juniper Centre would cost the county £2,984,000.

Other parts of the project are subject to partnership arrangements with the borough council, East Dorset Housing Association and health providers.

The Juniper Centre currently has 100 on its books and can cope with 75 daily placements.

"It's going to be slightly reduced in size because more and more people are becoming independent in the area and going out in the community, so we don't need the services that are in the old Juniper Centre building," said Mrs Slade.

Being relatively close to the town centre, the elderly persons' development is set to promote social inclusion and independent living.

Christchurch Borough Council planning officers have signalled a number of concerns for planning committee members when they meet on Thursday evening.

They want to see design changes and relocation of the key worker accommodation, note residents' worries over the close proximity of a footpath to their home and highlight a number of traffic and parking issues.

However, because the county council is the planning authority in this matter, the borough council can only comment on the plan.

The scheme will go to the county capital resources committee after the council tax has been set by full council.

First published: January 31