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Plans to redevelop the Chalkstone Middle School site as a state-of-the-art care home have been abandoned by Suffolk County Council.

The plan, part of an initiative to build three new care homes across Suffolk, would have seen Place Court care home closed and staff and residents moved to the new premises within about five years.

Part of the financing would have come from selling the Place Court site in Camps Road for development, but mostly the schemes were to be funded by a Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

However, the council's cabinet decided this week that these PFIs would be too expensive to prepare in the current economic climate.

A report to the cabinet said: "It is now clear from the financial analysis that the cost to the council for redeveloping only part of its care homes is unaffordable.

"However, the interest people have shown about the proposals during the consultation is valued and acknowledged."

Considerable public consultation was done, with council officers giving extensive presentations about the idea to various interested groups, including Haverhill Partnership and Haverhill Town Council.

The county council has now decided to take a complete overview of all its care provision and will be receiving a further report to the cabinet in October.

This week's meeting decided the report should cover options for the council’s residential homes for older people 'within the wider context of the new strategic direction' and 'ensuring a range of services to meet the needs of older people in Suffolk'.

Haverhill Town Council had considered the future of Bevan House, its former offices on the corner of Camps Road and Crowland Road, as the site adjoins Place Court, and it might have been possible to include it in redevelopment.

The future of the Chalkstone Middle School site, which will become redundant in a year's time under school re-organisation, will now go back into the melting pot along with other affected school sites in Haverhill.