A £1 MILLION scheme to turn a former York care home into a charity base could be given the green light next week.

York Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) is hoping to convert Oliver House in Bishophill into office and activity space for health and social care organisations following the closure of the home last March.

The proposals will go before City of York Council’s west and city-centre area planning sub-committee next week and have been recommended for approval, with the applicants saying the project would create space for 22 charities and make it a one-stop centre for services which would particularly be designed for elderly and disabled people.

Oliver House closed as an elderly people’s home as part of the council’s shake-up of care in the city. It will see York’s nine existing care homes, which have been branded outdated, being shut and two new “super-care-homes” being built, as well as a “care village” at the former Lowfields School site.

If the plans are approved next week, two single-storey extensions would be added to house a reception area and a café. A report by planning officer Erik Matthews said only one objection had been received from a neighbouring resident, who supported the scheme but was concerned about the materials being used for the reception block and its impact on road safety as well as car-parking spaces being moved.

Mr Matthews’ report said the building, dating from the 1970s, was currently “not making a positive contribution” to the area and the CVS plans would refresh its “plain and monotonous” appearance.

The project would involve installing a suite of offices and meeting rooms for charities and community groups.

In a planning statement submitted to the council, Mass Architecture, which has designed the proposals, said services at Oliver House would allow elderly and disabled people “to live full, inclusive and independent lives” and “benefit a wide range of people”.

One of the new super care homes will be built at Haxby Hall, with the other having originally been earmarked for Fordlands Road in Fulford. However, the council has now said this site is not suitable and is consulting on fresh plans to build the complex at Burnholme Community College once the school closes next year.