AN OLD people's home due for closure could be demolished to make way for a new health centre.

Lanehead House, in Burnley Road, Harle Syke, is currently still home to about 18 residents, but they will be moving to a new home in Padiham later this year.

The home will then be demolished and the site put on the market.

But a bid to buy the Lancashire County Council-owned site has already been made by East Lancashire Building Partnership, a company set up under the NHS's Lift initiative which aims to improve and expand local primary and community health care facilities.

The site would then be used to build a new health centre which would house five GPs, and other health services.

Lancashire County councillor for Burnley North East, Terry Burns, has welcomed the plans.

He said: "I am really excited at the prospect of getting this state-of-the-art building in the centre of a residential area where it is needed.

"This site is well located for patients and is accessible being on the main road."

A spokeswoman for Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Primary Care Trust (PCT), which is part of the East Lancashire Building Partnership, confirmed that negotiations were under way to buy the site from the county council for a new purpose-built health centre.

She said: "We are talking seriously with the county council about the site.

"It has not been finalised because there are still one or two legal points that need to be clarified.

"If it is finalised that will be good news because it will ensure the site will remain as a community facility and it will be one that provides primary and local health care for people in that area." The spokeswoman said there would be extensive public consultation.