Pressure is growing for a badly-sited old people's home to be moved to another site.

Ladygrove House, in Britwell Road, Didcot, is in a landscaped hollow beyond the northern end of Smallbone Recreation Ground which former Mayor Basil Pryor said provided residents "with nothing to look out on".

He told a public meeting the view for existing residents was "as interesting as looking at the back of a chair".

Ladygrove House

The layout of the site leaves staff and residents staring out at a hedge-topped grassed embankment. It has been criticised since the home was built by Berkshire County Council in the 1960s.

Oxfordshire County Council has unveiled plans to replace the home with a new £2m 60-bed residential and nursing home, along with plans to replace residential homes at Wallingford and Banbury.

As part of the public consultation, the council suggested the new Didcot home be built on the existing site. Ladygrove House and the adjoining Ladygrove Day Centre would be demolished. While the new home is going up, the council said nearly 40 residents would be temporarily housed at Blue Mountains residential home, Wallingford, where Didcot staff would look after the Didcot residents.

At the public meeting at Didcot Civic Hall, Nicholas Welch, assistant director of social services, said they were willing to consider any option to relocate the home. He said: "Whoever thought of digging a hole and putting a home in it got something wrong."

Town councillor Capt John Flood suggested a new site could be considered as part of the expansion of Ladygrove being planned east of the town.