Up to 50 new jobs could be created under proposals to demolish an existing Athersley North care home and replace it with one taking twice the number of residents.

Privately-owned Lindhurst Lodge was originally built on behalf of Barnsley Council in the late 1960s and the current owners, care group A H Choudhry and A Zeb, took over in 1998.

The Lindhurst Road care home is registered for 37 residents with 33 single rooms and two double rooms. It provides residential care for those with dementia, eating disorders, learning disabilities and old age.

It is not known what would happen to the residents if the plan was given the go ahead and staff at the home said that was subject to discussion between the home's owners and the council.

The proposed scheme is to increase the number of bed spaces and create a small number of assisted living units to provide alternative accommodation for those with greater independence or to allow a person to be close to a partner who requires full time care.

The home employs seven full time staff and 28 part time staff. The proposed home would increase job numbers by approximately 50 additional staff.

The range of jobs will also increase with the diversity of care provided, with a full time receptionist and office staff being employed for the first time.

Should it be given the green light by planing officials, the redeveloped care home would provide 32 ground floor bedrooms and 42 first floor bedrooms, creating 74 in total.

The bed spaces would be broadly split, with 22 high dependency and young disabled beds on the ground floor along with a ten bed dementia care unit.

In addition, day care and respite care would be provided with hydrotherapy and physiotherapy use by both residents and day care users. The annexe facing on to Radcliffe Road would be used to provide the six assisted living/close care apartments.