Up to 60 elderly people will be saved the expense - and possible trauma - of going into a residential home thanks to a showpiece £2.1 million development opening next month.

Woodside Court, an 'extra care' elderly housing scheme, will be a first for Bradford when it opens on the Woodside estate.

It is a joint enterprise between the Hanover Housing Association and Bradford Council social services. The developers say it offers frail older people a real alternative to residential care.

The block of 36 flats is similar to sheltered housing, but offers a much more intensive level of care, with social services home care staff on site.

The whole building is being designed with frail, older people in mind. There will be wheelchair-friendly showers, and the interior of the flats are 'sympathetically designed to meet the needs of people with sight problems'.

But because the residents will remain 'tenants' many people will continue to get their rent paid through housing benefit, leaving them much better off than if they had opted for a residential home.

The pioneering idea has already won Hanover Housing Association an award from the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Fraser Neasham, the housing association's initiatives manager, said: "We are delighted with this scheme. It is the first extra-care development we have done in Bradford and, we believe, a first for the district.

"It will be a real alternative to people who might otherwise go into a home, when they lose their independence and a great deal of their income."

He said a similar scheme in Newcastle had been shown to considerably improve the health of pensioners who transferred there from run-down council flats.

The design of the scheme had been influenced by recent research into older people's health, which showed health and well-being were directly affected by diet and social isolation.

The new block has three residents' lounges and a kitchen where nutritious hot meals, tailored to older people's needs, will be prepared each lunchtime.

Anyone who is interested in applying for one of the flats, which will be allocated to those who are in need of extra care facilities, is invited to an open day on April 27 from 10.30am to 7pm. Or they may contact Amanda Nicholson at Hanover on (01274) 599686 or 0845 6014360 for more details.

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