Historic former Larbert care home to be put up for sale

Falkirk Council has agreed that the former care home in Larbert, Torwoodhall, can be put on the market despite a last-ditch effort by Labour councillors to see social housing built on the site.

The once grand house was built in the 1850s and sits in 1.7 acres of ground.

It closed recently as a care home, following a review by Falkirk’s Health and Social Care Partnership.

While staff were praised for their work – and in particular not having a single case of Covid throughout the pandemic – it was felt that the old, 18-bed home was not suitable to offer modern care.

Having been in council ownership since 1949, the old building had seen many changes in its time, but adapting to the challenges of infection control proved impossible.

Members of Falkirk Council’s executive heard that officers had looked at the possibility of using the site for social housing, but this was not considered to be cost effective.

Officers said converting it into social housing would be twice as expensive as building from scratch.

The Labour group said it wanted officers to look more closely at using the site.

Councillor Alan Nimmo said: “We should always look to our own land first and use it for our own purposes.”

However, council leader Cecil Meiklejohn, said: “It would cost more than double the cost per unit for houses to be built on this land.”

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