SOUTHEND Council has given a first glimpse of a new care home it hopes to build for residents.

Priory House in Prittlewell Chase and the former Seabrook College, off Burr Hill Chase, are set to be demolished to make way for a 60-bed care home if an application is approved.

Southend Care, a trading company formed by the council more than a year ago to help cater for the needs of the town’s growing elderly population, will run it.

A day centre, with activity, dining and hydrotherapy rooms is also planned for the site. A communal garden will be created at the rear of the two-storey building.

The home would provide care for dementia patients, while the day centre would provide help for 34 people with both learning and physical disabilities.

Pupils at the Seabrook pupil referral unit will be relocated.

Tony Cox, councillor responsible for adults and housing, said: “The scheme is to provide dignified care for people in old age.

“Southend Care is an ongoing scheme and this is the first part. In terms of how we go forward, that will have to be debated but it is to provide dignified care for the those in the last years of their life who need it.

“Those in Priory House will stay put until this is completed. It’s all about causing the minimum disruption. We need to be mindful of how change affects people at this stage of their lives. We want to make it as seamless and as comfortable as possible.”

Seabrook College, a pupil referral unit for children with behavioural problems, is being transferred to the former Cecil Jones College Lower School which closed in 2015.

The empty building In Wentworth Road, is being refurbished for the youngsters aged up to 16 from Seabrook and children from elsewhere in the borough.