6 Offers In For Axed Care Home

Six offers have been tabled for an axed north-east care home. The for sale signs went up at the Rose Innes property in Aberchirder in the summer after it became the first casualty of an Aberdeenshire Council review of its residential services for the elderly.

The local authority revealed last night that half-a-dozen bidders are battling to buy the complex of buildings, which are on a 1.4-acre site at Aberchirder’s South Street.

Their offers will be considered by members of the council’s Banff and Buchan area committee when they meet next week.

Tuesday’s discussions will be held in private.

The Rose Innes property has 24 bedrooms, as well as bathrooms, kitchens, lounge areas and offices, and in its grounds there are four garages, a laundry and a summer house.

The one-time home to 15 senior citizens fell short of Scottish Care Commission standards, and the council decided in November last year that it would not be cost-effective to try to modernise it.

Its elderly residents were re-located when it shut its doors at the end of March.

Aberdeenshire Council did not put a price tag on the two-storey building, which also has a basement, when it started marketing it in June.

The council revealed two-and-a-half years ago that it was reviewing its care homes, and earmarked the Rose Innes property and St Drostan’s at Old Deer for closure.

The future of Allachburn at Aboyne, Blythewood at Port Elphinstone, Durnhythe at Portsoy, Edenholme at Stonehaven, Faithlie at Fraserburgh, Grangepark at Peterhead, Westbank at Oldmeldrum, and Ythanvale at Ellon are still being reviewed.

The St Drostan’s home could be closed as early as March 31 next year, unless the council can be persuaded to change its mind. Housing and social work chiefs say the council does not have cash to invest in the property.

The council has not revealed who the bidders for the property are.