A VILLAGE care home is set to expand to accommodate residents from another home which is closing down due to financial issues.

Cleeve Court nursing home, off Main Road, will close its 24 beds after its owner confirmed the facility was no longer financially viable.

The home is owned by Optima Care, which also owns the Leonard Elms care home in Brinsea Road, Congresbury.

Optima has said it plans to build a 30-bed building and renovate a building at Leonard Elms to house displaced residents from the Cleeve site who wish to stay in the area rather than move to Weston-super-Mare.

Olly Bliss is one of the care home’s owners. He told the Mercury: “Cleeve Court is only a small home with 24 beds.

“We are looking to close it because it is not cost-effective and we were not getting enough fees from the local authority.

“The residents have been given the choice to move to Leonard Elms. There is two units on that site at the moment – one is for general nursing and the other is for dementia care.

“The dementia care unit was probably built only 10 years ago, but the general unit is an old farmhouse and it needs work.

“Therefore, we are looking to build 30 beds in a new building and we will then turn the farmhouse into assisted living flats.”

The idea was presented to Congresbury Parish Council at its most recent meeting by representatives of planning consultancy Tetlow King.

The firm’s spokesman John Sneddon told councillors: “A lot of people do not want to be in residential care home beds and you have a higher degree of independence in these new care home apartments.

“An application will come before you in due course, but the reasons behind it are to maintain care provision and keep care in the area, as many clients do not want to go to Weston – they want to stay in a rural area.”

An application for outline planning permission is expected to be submitted to North Somerset Council within the next two or three weeks, though no timescale for a decision is yet known.