More details emerged yesterday of Bradford Council plans to create four extra care facilities in the district which would allow elderly people to live independently for longer.

The proposed sites are Saltaire, Airedale, Thackley and Goitside and are part of the Council’s new Great Places to Grow Old strategy.

The Saltaire and Thackley schemes are the most advanced and yesterday the executive agreed to transfer the required land at Ellar Carr Road in Thackley to Housing 21, which provides care, health and housing for older people, and to sell off the former Thackley Grange care home site to help fund the extra care housing scheme at Ellar Carr Road.

Thackley Grange was one of three Council care homes closed down in 2011.

In addition it emerged the care facilities for Saltaire, which would be built next to Neville Grange care home, would see the home closed down in order for construction to take place, and no prospect of those long-stay residents returning to the new facilities, which would provide extra care flats and intermediate care only.

The new plan is a joint project with health and housing chiefs and is aimed at providing more homes for pensioners ahead of a projected growth in the elderly population of the district.

Extra care facilities are considered a step down from residential care, as they provide one or two-bed units with 24-hour homes support and care.

The Saltaire and Airedale homes would also include a proportion given over to intermediate care, such as those released from hospital after surgery but needing time to recuperate before they go back home.

The proposals for new extra care homes are the first phase in the integrated strategy, which was drawn up following the threatened closure of three more care homes last year.

After consultation on the future of Harbourne in Wibsey, Holme View in Holme Wood and Neville Grange in Shipley, it was agreed in July to delay a decision until an integrated plan could be drawn up. This also took into account the increasing costs of redeveloping the remaining five Council care homes, which was projecting a shortfall of almost £6 million. As part of yesterday’s decision, the executive also confirmed it would not close Harbourne, Holme View and Neville Grange until alternative plans are in place.

Phase two would involve the fate of the remaining Council-run care homes, of which there are currently eight. The implication is that existing long-term care services could be de-commissioned as the independent sector creates capacity.

This would lead to alternative models for delivering accommodation and support for older people and people with dementia, in partnership with other providers.

Councillor David Green, Council leader, said he was keen for the quality of care received by residents in the Council-run homes to become a benchmark for others.

In addition, senior councillors agreed the Whetley Hill Resource Centre in Manningham would remain open but with a new organisation owning the building and running services from it.

It comes after the Council agreed to review the day centre for people with physical disabilities in 2011.