PLANS to build a new £2.5 million "new generation" residential care home in Tadcaster were unveiled today.

The new "super care" complex - the first in Selby district - is aimed at giving elderly residents more independence and privacy while maintaining round-the-clock care.

The home will include spacious one and two-bedroom apartments, each with their own front door, a cafeteria, communal lounges, assisted bathing rooms and other specialist facilities.

The new home will replace The Beeches, in Leeds Road, Tadcaster, where residents and staff were given the news yesterday.

North Yorkshire County Council has already identified a site near Tadcaster town centre on which to build the new home, and is now working closely with a housing association.

More than 60 residents and staff at The Beeches will be transferred to the new home, which will be jointly funded by the housing association and the Government's Housing Corporation.

An application for funding will be made this autumn and it is hoped to start work next spring, with a completion date set for the following year.

County council care chiefs said today there would be full consultation, including an exhibition of plans and a public meeting.

Head of county care Neil Revely said: "The new home represents the next generation of care facilities and we see it as an investment in the local community.

"Recent research tells us that older people would prefer more independent ways of living, with the same level of care they currently enjoy. This new home meets those criteria."

He said residents would also be better off. By living in an apartment, effectively their own home, they would be left with a minimum income support level of £83 a week - compared to the present £17 a week if they rely on means-tested housing benefit.

County council executive member for social services, Coun Shelagh Marshall, said: "The care we offer at present is second to none, but the buildings no longer meet modern standards."

Tadcaster town councillor Don Bain-Mackay said today: "This is fantastic news for the town. The Beeches does a fantastic job, but it is always short of accommodation."

Updated: 15:30 Tuesday, April 16, 2002