PLANS to build a UK first specialist dementia village for people suffering from sight loss is to be built in Barrow after a five year campaign.

The innovative £338,000 complex will be built in the grounds of Ostley House in Abbey Road, Barrow in March.

The specially designed village will aim to give patients with the dual diagnosis of sight loss and dementia specialist care in a modern care setting.

The development, which has been made possible thanks to a final grant of £100,000 from the Bradbury Foundation and a £10,000 grant from the Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust, s believed to be the UK’s very first Sight Loss & Dementia Village.

Carl Hodge, chief executive of Barrow & Districts Society for the Blind, said: “After the research we have done, we believe that we are the very first organisation to provide this type of support for both people with dementia and partial or complete sight loss within the UK.

“This is the accumulation of more than five years work, from formulating plans, fundraising with the community and grant applications.

“We will be opening up the ground floor to make way for two shops, a cinema, a cafe bar area, activity room, large dining room and there will even be a square walkway for residents to use.

“The main aim of this project is to move away from that idea of a gilded cage where residents are kept in their rooms, but rather creating some of the same experiences that one would expect in everyday life, but contained within a safe environment.

“Research we have done has shown that the amount of people experiencing sight loss and dementia is increasing so it is absolutely paramount that appropriate care is being provided.”

Statistics show 123,000 people in the UK suffer from dementia and sight loss.

Cllr Michael Cassells hailed the development as a “world beater”.

“Congratulations to the team for hitting the fundraising target.”

However, Cllr Cassells urged the county council to maintain the funding of statutory care services.