A NEW five-and-a-half storey care home is to be built at the gateway to Poole, creating around 30 new permanent jobs.

Planners have granted permission for the 68-bedroom building on land at the junction of Lindsay Road and County Gates (Frizzell) roundabout.

The home, to be called The Lindsay, will be Poole-based Primetower’s second care home in the town after opening The Links in Broadstone last year.

Poole planners had already given consent for an ultra-modern seven storey care home on the site, but Primetower managing director John Yeoman explained that the success of the Broadstone development had prompted a rethink.

“We decided that a more contemporary design approach would be more appealing to our intended elderly residents and their families, and provide a more attractive homely environment,” he said.

The in-house design was steered through the planning process by consultants Tanner and Tilley. Building is due to start later this year with a view to opening the new home next year.

The announcement ends years of uncertainty for the site following concerns over repeated vandalism to the old Bridge Club, which was vacated more than eight years ago.

Peter Tanner, managing director of Tanner and Tilley, said, “The proposed development will make a positive contribution to this prominent and important gateway site.”