A MULTI-MILLION pound specialist care centre for people with dementia is planned for Dursley – with 85 new jobs set to be created.

Increasing demand has led directors at The Hollies in the town to put forward plans for a £4.5million 45-bedroom dementia care facility, which could be open by next summer.

An entire floor of the current building is set aside for dementia sufferers but, with a 12-person waiting list for the specialist care, management decided that a new centre was needed.

There would be 85 new jobs – almost doubling the current 93-strong workforce.

Director at The Hollies, Jonathan Hawkins, told the Gazette there was high demand in Gloucestershire for specialist dementia care.

“People are living longer and so sadly the brain tends to degenerate, resulting in more and more people having dementia,” he said. “We have a dementia floor within the home which has been really nicely done but this whole building will be solely-focused on providing the best facilities for people with dementia.”

The centre would be built next to the existing care home, on land previously given  planning permission for retirement flats.

Bedrooms will centre around an inner courtyard and garden – designed to provide a safe outdoor space for residents.

“This will be a much-welcome amenity for the community,” Mr Hawkins added. “We’re getting more and more people with dementia who want to stay at the Hollies and this would enable us to do so.

“It will create 85 jobs, from semi-skilled roles to professional positions and will be a boost to the Cam and Dursley area.”

Sixty people are cared for at the existing £2million facility, which is on a four-acre site next to The Towers and was originally constructed for the Lister family.

A formal application is expected to be submitted in the coming weeks but the plans have already been discussed with Dursley Town Council and Stroud District Council planning officers.