A LOTHIAN nursing home which controversially closed down earlier this year is set to be turned into a bed and breakfast. All 37 of the Cockenzie Nursing Home's residents had to be moved and dozens of staff lost their jobs when the facility shut its doors in March.
Owner James MacDonald said he had no choice in the wake of a ban on new admissions by the Care Commission.
He rejected a council offer to buy the premises at a price to be fixed by the district valuer and instead put the building on the open marke
t.
But after failing to sell the property on the open market, Mr MacDonald has come up with a long-term plan to turn the building into flats.
He hopes to ride out the poor economic conditions in the meantime with the B&B plan.
East Lothian Council is currently considering a change-of-use planning application for the building at 22 Edinburgh Road.
Mr MacDonald said: "I submitted planning permission two weeks ago to turn the house into a bed and breakfast for a temporary period of five years.
"For the building to remain empty for any length of time just encourages vandals.
"To get it open and get some employment in the area would be a good thing."
A total of 85 people lost their jobs when the home was forced to close in March, but Mr MacDonald hopes ten to 15 new jobs could be created if planning permission is granted for the B&B.
He has owned the building for 21 years, but running the B&B will be a new venture for him.
He explained: "It will be aimed at the East Lothian tourist trade.
"I have never run a B&B before, but I have looked after 70 old people. It's a completely different type of client, but it's still looking after people."
The Reverend Bob Glover of Chalmers Memorial Church, who campaigned to keep the home open, said: "I'm obviously very sorry that the home has closed. However, the owners have got to find some use for this sorry building, and I imagine most of the community will be glad to see it being used for something."
The care home ran into difficulties earlier this year when a ban was imposed on new admissions at the home after a damning report by the Care Commission. It said that Cockenzie House failed to meet acceptable standards, including poor hygiene and infection control.
It later emerged that nearly half of the former residents of the care home died around the time of the closure. After the move, eight of the former Cockenzie House residents died, with a further ten passing away in the run-up to the closure.
While it was not possible to link the deaths with the move, relatives, staff and GPs had warned the upheaval would prove too much for many residents.
