PLANS to build a care home at the site of a derelict pub in Poole have been given the green light.

Private care home provider Encore, part of the Quantum Group, will demolish Oakdale Pub in Kingsmill Road and build an 84-bed specialist residential, nursing and dementia care home.

Dozens of letters supporting the application were sent by residents who favoured plans for a care home over a previous proposal for the site, which featured five houses and 27 flats. No permission was ever granted for the scheme.

There have been concerns over an increased number of break-ins and vandalism at the site over recent months. The derelict pub is surrounded by residential development and faces onto the Dorset Way.

Ward councillor Sandra Moore also supports the scheme. In a letter to planning officer James Gilfillan, she said: “I am very aware of the need for good quality care homes in Poole and think this proposal is a very good use of the site and promises to provide an excellent care home and employment opportunities for local residents.”

Encore opened Great Oaks care home in Poole Lane, Bournemouth in August. And, in partnership with the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, it opened Fairmile Grange care home in Christchurch last year.

The care home will be a part two, part three storey building with 84 bedrooms, multiple dining areas, treatment rooms, and a salon.

Mr Gilfillan said the care home would make a “significant contribution towards meeting future residential care needs in the borough”.

“The scheme has social benefits, making a good contribution towards the supply of modern, purpose-built care homes in the borough, meeting the needs of an ageing population with complex care needs. It would also have economic benefits, minor during construction, but long-term employment in an area close to a large residential catchment,” he said.

He added the former pub had seen “multiple changes” in landlords over recent years as a result of falling patronage – “a national phenomenon as social drinking cultures change”.

The landowner had not been able to attract a tenant for the pub since marketing the tenancy in 2015.

Encore said the size of the plot for the care home was “unprecedented” and the development would “make real change in the area”.

“Local residents and business owners have shown a particular interest in the provision of a new health facility to supplement the area along with the potential employment for existing residents in nursing, care and management,” the company said in its design and access statement.