PLANS to demolish former council offices and build a 70-bed care home have been approved.

Brockington in Hafod Road, Hereford has been left empty since the summer of 2014 when Herefordshire Council shut it down to cut accommodation costs and sold the buildings and land for £1.48m.

The council's planning committee has now approved plans by Prime Care Home Developments to knock down the buildings, including the original 1909 Brockington House, and build a two and a half storey care home.

Clerk of Hereford City Council, Stephen Kerry, said the council do not object to the proposal but asked that the house is not demolished.

Other councillors then raised concerns about whether the house needs to be knocked down.

But Cllr Phil Edwards said: "I believe that care homes can only really be provided in modern buildings that are designed to provide the level of care that is needed."

The meeting heard that the building is a non-designated heritage asset and that it had had been unsympathetically altered and extended.

Therefore it is not a building which could be protected by listing as a building of national importance and planning officer Edward Thomas said knocking it down would not cause substantial harm to the character of the Hafod Road Conservation Area.

But Cllr Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes said she cannot understand why the care home cannot be accommodated within the Brockington building.

She said: "I think the building itself is not wonderful as it stands. But it could easily be incorporated into the design for the care home. I don't think it has to be demolished. I am thinking of people who live in and around the area."

Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group said it would welcome a care home to deliver high quality care at an affordable rate.

And Cllr Bruce Baker said there is no doubt that the care home provision is needed in the area.

Concerns were raised about whether 31 car parking spaces were enough as the anticipated number of full time staff would be 60.

Mr Thomas said at least three parking spaces could be added to the provision.

There were 14 councillors in favour of the application, one against and one abstention.

Last November the council's planning committee approved a housing scheme, which includes two four-bedroom and two three-bedroom detached houses as well as a three-storey apartment block, on land east of Brockington House.