A GOUROCK care home which closed down last year is to be converted into flats.

Queens Residential Home in Ashburn Gate, pictured, ran into financial trouble and administrators KPMG were called in to try and salvage the business.

Efforts to find a new buyer failed, and it shut in July with the loss of around 25 jobs.

Now a total of 13 flats will be created at the site.

Planners at Inverclyde Council have given permission for the C-listed main building to be converted into seven flats.

Five will have two bedrooms and two will be one-bedroom.

The home’s existing extension will be demolished and a new three-storey block will be built. It will have six two-bedroom flats.

The development will have 13 parking spaces.

Planners say the the original form of the listed building will be restored under the proposals.

They believe the conversion to residential flats will have ‘an acceptable impact on the character and appearance of the listed building’.

Officials added: “The proposed new-build flatted block is considered acceptable in terms of design, density and with regard to the impact on the setting of the listed building.

“Overall, the parking provision is also acceptable.” The care home was put on the market for offers over £500,000 last year, but a stumbling block was the level of investment needed to bring the building up to the required standards.

All 13 residents in the former home were council-funded.

Eleven moved into local care homes and two were placed outside Inverclyde at their own request.