More than £10 million of funding has been approved to deliver a new Care Village in Methil, Fife.

The council's Policy & Coordination Committee has given the go-ahead for the investment, which will result in a new 36-bed residential care home, specific needs housing and an Early Years Centre being built on the site of the former Kirkland High School site on Methilhaven Road.

The new care home and the Early Years Centre will be joined together through a shared space which will contain a café, multi-functional space for activities as well as meeting and conference rooms. The care village will also include a mix of housing designed to meet a range of support needs.

Council Co-Leader David Alexander said: "This is a really exciting project. It will provide some essentials – a much needed care home replacement, a contribution to our target of 3,500 more affordable homes and increased nursery capacity to meet the Scottish Government's commitment to 1,140 hours of early learning and childcare entitlement.

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"But it could be much more than these component parts. What we're aiming for is a brand new, inter-generational community facility. Bringing children and adults together in activities is beneficial for the people directly involved, and is also proven to build more cohesive communities."

Co-Leader Cllr David Ross added: "I'm delighted we've approved these outline plans. This kind of multi-purpose facility at the heart of communities is exactly what we've described in our Plan for Fife. This building will integrate a range of services provided by the Council and the Health & Social Care Partnership and has the potential to involve many community groups.

"Designing local services around people in this way will help us create thriving places and support successful and confident Fifers. The nursery element is dependent on funding coming from the Scottish Government's 1,140 hours expansion programme, which we expect confirmation of in May. However, we're hopeful that this new care village could be open by summer 2020."

(LM/MH)