A SPECIALIST care home built on a former East Oxford timber yard is on the road to becoming reality after plans were submitted to Oxford City Council.

The Orders of St John Care Trust intends to build an £8m residential care home for people with dementia on the former premises of family-run firm W G Powell.

Final plans include 64 beds with en-suite facilities, communal areas and extra luxuries such as a cafe and a hairdressing salon as well as 'dementia-friendly' design.

The plans are due to be discussed by the council in September this year and, if approved, work on the site would start in early- to mid-2018, becoming OSJCT's sixth home in Oxfordshire.

Operations director Kevin Hall said: "We were very pleased to have the opportunity to develop the Cowley Road site.

"It is a big project, so the application took some months to pull together and involved a range of specialists to provide as comprehensive a plan as possible."

The three-storey home would have a 20-space car park and be set in landscaped gardens planted with cornflowers, tulips, lavender and grasses.

It will feature a communal hub with a kitchen, hairdresser, treatment room, shop, lounge and cinema room as well as staff rooms.

Contractors have also taken into account the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC)'s dementia design principles, which include as much natural light as possible, reduced noise, not too many restricted or locked areas, signage and careful choice of colours.

Mr Hall added: "The communal areas will include themed interior design to provide destination areas.

"We believe in offering our residents as much opportunity as possible to maintain their independence and continue to enjoy a good quality of life."

OSJCT runs five other facilities in the county, including Longlands in Blackbird Leys and Isis in Cornwallis Road in Florence Park, Oxford.

The care home would be staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is likely to create up to 100 jobs, with the majority of staff living within a five-mile radius.

Mr Hall said: "Recruitment is always a challenge but we do invest in our employees and we’re confident that the creation of a new state of the art facility, combined with our good reputation, will enable us to attract the necessary staff."

There is already outline planning permission for the demolition of the old W G Powell buildings, which closed in 2015 after trading since 1923.

Members of the public have been invited to comment on application 17/01463/FUL between now and Friday, August 4.

To see the application visit oxford.gov.uk.