A £25.8 million ‘state-of-the-art’ care facility is to be developed on the previous Bewsey Old School site after a commitment from councillors.

The proposals for a new intermediate care facility on the Lockton Lane land – to replace and extend the provision currently provided across sites in the town – came before the council’s cabinet at its meeting on Monday.

A report to members outlined the business case for the provision of a new intermediate care facility for Warrington on the site, to propose a ‘preferred option’ for future provision at the location, to seek approval for the new-build proposals, and to seek approval for progress to Royal Institute of British Architects ‘stage three’ design and development, for the ‘preferred option’, including a pre-planning application and formal planning application.

The cabinet committed to the proposal for delivering ‘state-of-the-art, high-quality care for the people of Warrington’.

Cllr Maureen McLaughlin, cabinet member for public health and wellbeing, said: “I just want to comment that here is a report where you can clearly see the obvious and positive impact it will have on some very vulnerable residents.”

Council chief executive Steven Broomhead described it as a ‘very significant’ project.

Under the proposals, the site would include provision for up to 79-80 beds split into five wings of 16 beds each – which would ‘enable the closure of all other intermediate care beds’ as delivery will be on a single site.

Meanwhile, it would provide approximately 6,400m2 of accommodation across three floors, approximately 400m2 of ground floor office space is provided for some of the community intermediate care services, provided with separate access, along with providing 122 car parking spaces to accommodate visitors, facility staff and community care staff.

In addition, the external facilities would also include ambulance parking, patient drop-off, delivery access and waste storage.

NHS partners across Warrington have been involved in the development of proposals for the new facility, with cabinet agreeing to progress discussions with key partners and place leads regarding future funding and revenue costs.

The capital cost of the preferred option is currently estimated at £25.8 million, with future funding arrangements subject to ongoing discussions with NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s Integrated Care Board and local system partners.

The report also stated that the current bed-based intermediate care provision is dispersed across the town and notwithstanding the ongoing improvements and change, the bed-based building, Padgate House, is ‘not fit for purpose and does not meet the future requirements of the intermediate care service’.

The cabinet endorsed the outline and in principle proposals for the provision of a new intermediate care facility for Warrington on the previous Bewsey Old School site, approve the approach to further discussion and negotiation with the ICB and partners based on the funding principles, and approve the spend for the Royal Institute of British Architects ‘stage three’ design to be split 50-50 with the ICB and partners and development of the new intermediate care facility including a pre-planning application and formal planning application.