PLANS to build a bungalow for adults with learning and physical disabilities in a York suburb have been given the green light.

The Wilf Ward Family Trust submitted plans to build a four-bedroom bungalow on the corner of Holyrood Drive and Manor Lane in Rawcliffe. It has been welcomed by city representatives calling for extra facilities to help adults with disabilities live full lives.

Clifton counciller Ken King praised the report and said he was pleased to welcome more provision for people with disabilities in York.

Founded by Wilf Ward and his wife, Phyllis, in November 1986, the trust provides residential care and supported living in a range of staffed homes across Yorkshire.

It has a number of residential respite units and day facilities. Wilf Ward started out at Isabella Court in Pickering and Phylward House in Harrogate.

Residential respite care forms a major part of the trust's work. It allows parents and other carers to have a rest and become refreshed.

It also offers the person with the disability the chance to get outside the family home and meet old and new friends in a pleasant, sociable setting.

The application to City of York Council is to build a residential care home providing a supported living environment for four adults with disabilities and three staff during the day and one over night. The trust emphasises the homely environment provided by staff who help residents to enjoy as full a life as possible, making their personal wishes paramount, encouraging and promoting involvement and decision making.

Some residents attend an external day service and others are provided with a range of activities to meet their personal requirements.

Residents are encouraged to play a full part in their home, participating in everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning, shopping and laundry. They are also supported to take positive decisions in the running of the service.

Rawcliffe Parish Council had no objections to the application, but neighbours had concerns over the closeness of the home to their boundaries.

A report by planning officer Howard Smith said: "Notwithstanding additional staff and visitor attendance during the day, it is not considered that the proposals represent a residential care use so intense as to result in detriment to the living conditions of adjacent properties."

City of York Council's East Area Planning Sub Committee approved the plans at a meeting in the Guildhall on Thursday.

Updated: 10:17 Saturday, July 16, 2005