A FORMER mill site is to be transformed into a £9 million care home development.

Proposals for the former Mons Mill site, in Burnley Road, Todmorden, include a 48-bed unit specialising in care for people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Out of the 48 beds 20 will be used to support the growing number of people under 65 who are being diagnosed with dementia.

A second building will contain self-contained flats for adults with disabilities to help them live independently.

Each unit will cost £4.5m to build. The dementia unit will contain a central courtyard to create a safe environment for residents to go outside.

The units will take up two acres of the five-acre site, the rest will be sold off for housing development.

The proposals have been submitted to Calderdale Council by Care and Support Initiatives, which already runs Pennine Lodge care home in the town, as well as homes in Manchester and Cheshire.

Pat Asquith, director of operations for the firm, said the development would fill a huge gap in care facilities in the area.

She said: "These are exciting and ambitions plans and Calder Valley is crying out for care facilities. There have been a lot of beds lost with homes closing in the valley recently."

Mrs Asquith said she hoped the specialist Alzheimer and dementia unit would become a centre of excellence among care facilities and will build on the strengths of Pennine Lodge.

If planning permission is granted by the council work should start on site this summer and the first unit should be open by next summer.