CONVICTED criminals, some of whom are deaf and mentally ill, are being cared for in a former nursing home on the fringe of a Bury housing estate.

Now residents are demanding to know why planning chiefs didn't carry out a wider public consultation exercise to inform home-owners living near to Florence Nightingale Hospital that offenders would be cared for in the secure unit.

The private rehabilitation centre, run by Mayflower Hospitals, is said to the first of its kind in Europe. It houses ten people, with proposals to increase the number of patients to 32. Some patients have criminal records.

Home-owners say the unit is not fully secure and fear that any "escapees" could harm their children.

One resident, who did not want to be identified, said: "How can Bury Council allow this to happen? We now have criminals being housed on our doorstep and we were not even given the chance to object to the plan.

"I have spoken to a number of residents and everyone was under the impression it was going to be run as a nursing home, not a secure unit for criminals with psychiatric problems.

Mr Philip Marsh, director of Mayfair Hospitals, admitted some of the patients have criminal records, but added: "Firstly, if these patients were a threat to the community they would not be housed here.

"Secondly, statistics show that mental health patients are no more likely to commit crime than so-called normal people. Often mental health patients display challenging behaviour as a result of communication difficulties and their behaviour is borne out of this communication difficulty.

Council planning officer Mr Tom Beirne said the principle of a nursing home, secure or not, had already been established as Florence Nightingale Hospital had previously been used to care for patients.

He said: "Who the patients are is not a planning concern."

Mr Beirne confirmed that the application for the redevelopment of the site off Bolton Road was publicised in the Bury Times and that residents living nearest to the hospital had been informed by post.