A CARE home in Devizes is to be knocked down and replaced with a 47 bed residential centre for people with dementia.

Wiltshire Council has given permission for the existing home to be bulldozes and a new centre built despite worries about car parking and the size of the building by people living nearby.

Lifetime Care originally applied to Wiltshire Council to demolish Mayfield Care Home in Nursteed Road and replace it with a 52 bed development in June last year but there were complaints about its size and small car park.

This was withdrawn after discussions with planning officers and a new application for a slightly smaller home. Neither Devizes Town Council or the highways department objected to the revised proposal.

In a letter the highways team wrote: "We are satisfied that the additional traffic generated will not have a seriously adverse effect on the highway. The parking provision is adequate." But it did say that no part of the development should be used until the parking area is complete.

A letter from of objection from a neighbour complained about both the size of the new building and the parking.

He wrote: "The planning submission shows that there is only provision for seventeen, plus two disabled parking spaces, with all the staff, cooks, cleaners, doctors, ambulances, maintenance, deliveries and visitors, is this enough?

"What we are concerned about is that because Nursteed Road is an arterial road, and at peak times is incredibly busy that the local residential streets such as Gables Close, Mill Road, Cairds Lawn and others who already suffer from parking problems, the new building will create even further problems for people getting into their own homes."

Agents for the development say in a report to Wiltshire Council: "This scheme has been the subject of extensive consultation and discussions with both the council and local neighbours."

The agents said the new scheme is a reduction in impact on neighbouring properties.

Its report said: "Over the course of the scheme evolution, feedback received from both neighbours and town councillors was generally positive both with regards to the design and proposed use of the new home in light of a growing local need for dementia care facilities.

"The building in its current use is not fit for purpose and fails to meet the latest care standards."