Plans for the first phase of a £6.5m housing scheme on Brownlow Road in Mansfield which includes 48 extra care homes for older people has been announced.

Nottinghamshire County Council is joining forces with Mansfield District Council on the development which will comprise of a total 64 bungalows, houses and apartments on 1.8 hectares of a 5 hectare brown field site.

The project is expected to take two years to complete providing planning permission on the project is granted.

The County Council will be committing £3.4m towards the project to create the extra care homes, including 10 bungalows for people with dementia.

For people who want to own their own home or want to down-size but remain a homeowner, there will be 10 properties (five two-bed bungalows and five two-bed houses) available for affordable home ownership.

The District Council, who is the current owner of the land, has invested around £11m preparing the site and will be contributing just over £0.5m towards the development.

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The plan is subject to a funding bid for £1.3m from the Department of Health to support the project. A decision on grant funding to support the scheme is likely in May 2013.

The build programme would be managed by Mansfield District Council and once completed the properties will be let by the District Council to people nominated by the County Council that have extra care needs.

Extra care is an extension to traditional supported housing where older people can live as independently as possible with the reassurance that care staff are on-site for 24 hours a day. There is also usually a range of flexible services and facilities on site that people can use.

The plan will enable older people to have increased choice and control over their daily lives with care and support delivered as and when they need it and will help address the expected increase in older people of the next decade.

It forms part of a wider plan to create 160 extra care places across the county for people funded by the Council at a cost of £12.65m. Sites have already been identified in Retford and Eastwood.

It is estimated that by the mid 2020s older people will account for almost 50 percent of the increase in total number of households.

Councillor Kevin Rostance, Chairman of the County Council's Adult Social Care and Health Committee, said: "We are really excited about this project as it will significantly improve the quality and choice of properties available to older people in the county and will offer an alternative to traditional residential care.

"It is hoped that the development will have a residential estate feel, making it an attractive prospect for older people needing extra care housing."

(CD)