A historic former care home that has looked after residents for more than a century is to be sold off by the council, after it was deemed too expensive to develop.
Falkirk Council has agreed that the former care home in Larbert, Torwoodhall, can be put on the market despite a last-ditch effort by Labour councillors to see social housing built on the site.
The once grand house, which was built in the 1850s and sits in 1.7 acres of grounds, recently closed as a care home for good, following a review by Falkirk’s Health and Social Care Partnership.
While its staff were praised for their work – and in particular not having a single case of Covid throughout the pandemic – it was felt that the old, 18-bed home was simply not suitable to offer modern care.
Having been in council ownership since 1949, the old building had seen many changes in its time, but adapting to the challenges of infection control proved impossible.
Members of Falkirk Council’s executive heard that council officers had looked at the possibility of using the site to create social housing but this was not considered to be cost effective.
Officers said converting it into social housing would be twice as expensive as building from scratch.
The Labour group, however, said they wanted officers to look more closely at using the site.
Councillor Alan Nimmo said: “We should always look to our own land first and use it for our own purposes.”
However, council leader Cecil Meiklejohn, said: “It would cost more than double the cost per unit for houses to be built on this land – my concern is that would not be best value.”
After a vote, it was agreed to proceed with the sale.
