PLANS to ease the growing shortage of care home places for the elderly in the New Forest are likely to be approved tomorrow.

Councillors will be urged to support proposals to build a 60-bed complex at the former Meadows caravan site in Southern Lane, New Milton.

Plans for 38 houses on the site were thrown out in 2003 and a later scheme for 34 properties was withdrawn.

An outline application to build a 60-bed care home and ten retirement cottages was approved last year.

Lymington-based Colten Developments is now seeking full consent for the scheme but has cut the number of cottages from ten to seven. The application will be debated at tomorrow's Planning and Development Control Committee meeting, with a recommendation that the scheme should be approved.

New Milton Town Council has lodged an objection on the grounds of overdevelopment and loss of privacy for neighbours. These claims are denied by the developer.

The scheme would help the district to cater for its ageing population.

As reported in the Daily Echo, the number of Forest residents aged over 85 is expected to rise over the next few years. However, at least 20 care homes in the Forest have closed in recent years, largely as a result of rising costs.