Homes for the elderly planned in Market Drayton

Plans to include Market Drayton in a £137 million scheme to build homes for the elderly across Shropshire will be unveiled today.

About 30 purpose-built homes are earmarked for Market Drayton as part of a shake-up of adult social care.

Under the Extra Care scheme private finance initiative (PFI) cash is being used to create one and two-bedroom homes for elderly people. The homes are targeted at those needing occasional care but whose needs fall short of moving to a care or nursing home.

A former builders' yard in Cheshire Street, next to Raven House, is a potential site for the new facility in Market Drayton.

Shirehall's top finance officer Laura Rowley is due to chair a meeting at the Festival Drayton Centre today between 4pm and 7pm where details of the plans will be discussed.

Eric Davis of Market Drayton Senior Citizens' Forum said: "We welcome Shropshire Council's success in bidding for funding under the PFI to enable the building of Extra Care homes and communal facilities for the benefit of older people in Shropshire.

"The county has an above-average percentage of older people living here, so this success is to be applauded at a time when we can expect severe funding constraints to be placed on local councils by the Government."