A former care home which ceased operating because of staffing issues during the Covid pandemic is to become a new apartment building containing 16 flats.
The old Deerplay Rest Home in Heald Lane, Weir, Bacup, used to be a chapel and also has a Sunday School building attached to the rear.
Planning permission was granted on Thursday meaning there will be 16 apartments and 25 parking spaces created at the site.
Eight of the apartments will be in the current care home building, consisting of eight separate two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments with open plan living/dining-kitchen facilities.
The remaining eight apartments would be built at the rear, with plans submitted to Rossendale Borough Council in May last year proposing to partially demolish the Sunday School building and create eight parking spaces under the building and 10 outside.
There will then be two ground floor apartments built in the old Sunday School, three at first floor level and three within the roof space.
Overall, the proposed new combined buildings will provide five one-bedroom and eleven two-bedroom apartments with bathroom and open plan kitchen-dining-lounge accommodation on three levels.
The site is not occupied at the present time, but was purchased last year by MSC and James Grace Developments Ltd from the previous owner who ran the care home.
A statement submitted with the plans said: "The chapel building was built in the early 1900s although there is an 1867 datestone outside, but this may have come from an earlier building.
"Conversion to a care home is believed to have occurred in the 1980s with the insertion of a new first floor.
"The tall windows in the side elevations were partially blocked up and new white UPVC windows inserted. There are 19 bedrooms plus communal areas.
"The former Sunday School at the rear has not been brought back into use and would require complete refurbishment. Other outbuildings would need to be demolished.
"When it was built the chapel must have been surrounded by open land. There are now detached and semi-detached houses to the sides and rear.
"They must have been built at approximately the same time as the conversion was carried out.
"The use as a care home ceased as a result of the Covid pandemic.
"The first lockdown made it impossible to get staff who would be prepared to put up with the restrictions.
"Residents had to be moved elsewhere and the business became unviable.
"An alternative use for the building must be found."
The 25 car parking spaces would be accessed from an existing point on Heald Lane
The former care home had no parking spaces for staff and visitors, who were forced to park on surrounding roads, but these plans solve that issue with 25 spaces, which include two electric vehicle charging points.
Provision has also been made for the storage of bins for rubbish and recycling.
There is limited open space about the building but there is a public recreation ground opposite.
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