A long-derelict and heavily vandalised hotspot could be torn down and rebuilt as much needed care home after sitting vacant for more than a decade.

The Meadows site in Bagshot Road, Woking, closed in 2013 could be demolished and turned into a 74 bed dementia specialist care home after the borough council granted planning permission on Tuesday September 2.

The land is owned by Boutique Care Homes which officers described as a family owned and award winning company. The approved care home is a variation on early plans to redevelop the site that had gone to appeal.

The home, with construction work expected to begin next year, would be spread across a three to four storey building for residential and dementia care for people aged 65 and over. It would also include day rooms, cinema, hairdressers and bistro as well as communal gardens and car parking for up to 24 spaces.

Recent photographs show the front of the building is boarded off from the public and the building is in a poor state of repair and has severely deteriorated over the years. The plans would also help address the shortage of care homes in the area, the meeting heard.

A need assessment suggests an additional 359 full market standard bed rooms in the catchment area are currently required. Further there is a shortfall of dedicated dementia beds of 243, 130 of those within Woking Borough Council.

A spokesman for the developer told the meeting: “The site has unfortunately been subject to significant vandalism and antisocial behaviour, it has also been band has been damaged by fire, with police are regularly involved

“Demolition and redevelopment of the site will eradicate this issue and bring a vacant site back into use for first time since 2013.”

Councillor Louise Morales (Liberal Democrats: Hoe Valley) said: “I’ve seen this plan come forward many times and the size, the bulk, the mass….everybody said ‘this is totally and utterly against our green belt’ but the building was at that point deteriorating and being severely vandalised and everybody said it would be far better to have it built rather than leave it empty for another 10 years and that was 3 years ago.

“It’s still empty, it’s deteriorated even more since it last came to planning. This is slightly bigger but we are all very aware of the cost of running large places, it comes down to the number of extra people you have. This is better than an empty site.”