Budget pressures lead to revised replacement care home plan in Fife

A REVISED plan for a replacement care home in Fife has had to be drawn up due to budget pressures.

Members of Fife Council’s policy and co-ordination committee will be asked to approve plans for a significantly scaled-down facility to replace Northeden House in Cupar in the new year after cost analyses suggested money set aside for new care homes would be overstretched.

Around £18.3 million was allocated in the local authority’s capital plan for the replacement of three care homes in Methil, Cupar and Anstruther.

However, the original plan for a 36-bed care home on the site of the Dalgairn Centre, on Cupar’s Bank Street, looks set to be torn up in favour of a new proposal for a 24-bed care home and 12 supported flats.

The new building will also accommodate a day service facility and the existing adults community support service that currently operates from the Dalgairn Centre.

The change is needed after the anticipated price tag for the replacement of Methilhaven Care Home in Methil rose from £6.6m to more than £7.1m, with work still ongoing on the new care village on the former Kirkland High School site.

In a joint report to the

January 7 committee, Nicky Connor, health and social care director, and John Mills, head of housing services, have urged councillors to back the new way forward.

“If the proposal is approved, the replacement of Northeden House, with a new care home in Cupar, will be the second home in phase two of a wider Care Homes Replacement Programme, following the replacement for Methilhaven home,” the report notes.

“Northeden comprises 40 beds that are fully occupied, and the replacement care home would provide 24 beds to meet the design model of 12-bedroom units in the other new build homes.

“Sixteen beds will be commissioned in the independent sector, if required, as the building will also comprise 12 supported housing units.”

The budget for the Cupar project was reprofiled to £5.58m following the Methil cost over-runs, although permission is being sought to bring in an additional £1.02m from the council’s capital plan to contain costs within the £6.6m ceiling.

This amount would also cover demolition costs for Northeden House in Cupar and shared contingency costs with Housing Services against Covid-19 costs.