PROPOSALS for an £11.2 million extra-care home have been given the green light.

Planning chiefs approved the plans for the facility, that is to be built on the site of the controversially-closed Nightingale Lodge, Romsey, this week.

The site, on Great Well Drive, will include 54 affordable rented extra care assisted flats, alongside a restaurant and communal spaces and a new, independently-run, day service.

Hampshire County Council leader Roy Perry said the authority hopes to demolish Nightingale Lodge this autumn, with building work scheduled to start in early 2018.

The new facility, he added, will then be opened in the summer of 2019.

Cllr Perry said: “From the start, the county council has given its absolute commitment to this scheme, investing £6 million to establishing dedicated extra care accommodation for older people with care and support needs in Romsey. As leader of the council I can re-state that commitment on the part of Hampshire County Council.

“Once built, this scheme will be a worthy and modern replacement of the former outdated residential home. We took care to see that all former residents were comfortably resettled into alternative accommodation – and we will continue to progress what I know will be a much valued amenity for Romsey’s elderly population.”

The total scheme will be undertaken by HCC and housing association Family Mosaic, with funding help from Test Valley Borough Council.