A CONTINGENT of objectors to a plan to build a care home complex in Sutton will be appealing to Craven district councillors on Tuesday to reject the scheme.

The 60-bed care home and block of 50 apartments have been proposed for land adjacent to the cricket field and the new Crofters Mill estate.

The plans have sparked significant opposition, particularly from residents at Crofters Mill, and more than 40 letters of objection had been sent to the council since the revised plans were unveiled in March.

The land in question is the former Sutton Mill site, a large proportion of which has been developed for the Crofters Mill estate. Access to the proposed complex would be shared with the residential area.

The block of 50 apartments would provide "assisted living" or extra care accommodation for elderly people who are not ready to move into a nursing or residential home but who may need extra security and care.

The flats would provide accommodation for up to 100 residents aged 55 and over and would be designed in the style of the former mill.

Originally Maria Mallaband Nursing Homes Limited submitted plans for a four-storey building. This was reduced to three after a heated meeting between owner Philip Burgan and local residents at a Sutton Parish Council meeting.

Adjacent to the flats would be a new 60-bed nursing home with extra elderly, mentally and infirm places, built in the style of former mill cottages.

This would replace Royd Mill Nursing Home, which the owner says does not meet future care home regulations and will be sold for housing. The existing 46 residents would be transferred to the new complex.

Forty new jobs would be created and 60 existing jobs sustained by the development.

"No-one objects to the idea of a nursing home," said Steve Harker, a spokesman for the Crofters Mill residents. "It is the block of residential apartments that is the problem. Even with three storeys, people who live on the estate would be overlooked.

"The development is going to be shoved up to the back of our houses. It will obviously have a lot of lighting. Both buildings will dominate the area."

He added that the access through the estate would now have to serve the Crofters Mill, the 50 apartments, and staff and visitors to the care home.

"It is strongly felt that Corn Mill Walk, the entrance to the Crofters Mill estate, will become a bottleneck with all the additional traffic, especially during the summer months when the cricket club is playing," added Mr Harker.

"When we bought our homes we were all aware that this land was to be used for single storey light industry, in accordance with the Local Plan."

Another member of the Crofters Mill Residents Association added: "To be faced with the potential for a three-storey flat complex, which dwarfs our houses and is against this plan understandably causes concern, and also dents our belief in the law of the land."

But staff at North Yorkshire County Council Social Services have welcomed the application as it would relieve the shortage of elderly care places in the district.

In its representations to the council, Maria Mallaband Nursing Homes state: "We feel that this development will enhance the area, save existing jobs and bring new jobs to Sutton. In addition, it will enhance the number of the wealthier, more mature end of the population, thus bringing more custom to local traders."

Planning officers have recommended that the plans be approved, subject to a number of conditions.They feel the height of the building "would not appear unduly overbearing to the existing residents, not result in undue additional loss of privacy".

However they have asked the applicants to move the care home further away from homes on the estate.