AN UPDATE on plans to redevelop a former Otley pub will be given next week.

Westward Care received permission to turn the former Summercross site, on East Busk Lane, into a 46 bedroom care home some nine years ago.

The lack of progress since - the building remains empty and boarded up - has drawn repeated criticism from local councillors, Otley Pub Club and Otley Conservation Task Force.

Now Westward Care is preparing to brief ward councillors before it gives a public update at a consultation event at Otley Core on Tuesday, December 11.

The consultation will run from 4pm to 7pm and is expected to give details about a 'housing with care' scheme for the site.

In a reply to a recent query by Angela Leathley of Otley Conservation Task Force, Westward Care's Managing Director Peter Hodkinson said: "We have been working hard over the past number of years to create a solution for this site and have decided to work with a social housing organisation in the delivery of a ‘Housing with Care’ scheme, matching a similar footprint to the approval granted several years ago."