A Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) has been submitted by the local authority for the 60-bed facility ahead of a formal planning application.

Public consultation is to be launched next month with specific dates and venues to be confirmed.

The Tweedbank Care Village in Tweedbank Drive would incorporate three new two-storey residential buildings for the provision of elderly care residents, including amenity facilities, associated car parking, landscaping, bike/bin storage and an energy centre.

Council representatives paid a fact-finding visit to Hogeweyk dementia village in the Netherlands to look at new way of providing care services.

An earlier report on the proposal said it represented “a paradigm shift in care”, adding: “It is an alternative model for traditional nursing, residential and intermediate care, which is based on de-institutionalisation and transformation, where people live in small, homely settings, with like-minded peers and are supported by family, staff and volunteers to live as normal a life as possible.

“The operational model provides a high quality person-centred provision for six to 10 residents per unit, equating to a total capacity for 60 residents, in a vibrant homely setting supporting unique needs, lifestyles and personal preferences for living, care and well-being for people dealing mainly with severe dementia and frailty.

“The units themselves have their own living room, kitchen and single en-suite rooms. This will be home for these residents, so the houses will be furnished as such, emulating in the main the original homes of the residents.”

Plans to develop the facility were agreed as part of the council budget approved on 19 March 2022. A separate project will see a similar solution provided in Hawick, with more than £22.5 million of capital allocated to cover the cost of the two Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Partnership developments.

Both Waverley Care Home in Hawick and Garden View Care Home in Tweedbank would close in order to allow the plans to progress.