A property developer's struggle to find dementia care for his mother has inspired plans to build a nursing home in Broadland.When Nicholas Hovey, managing director of Tilia Business Park, at Rackheath, began searching for help for his mum, Priscilla Hovey, he was shocked to find services were few and far between.

A property developer's struggle to find dementia care for his mother has inspired plans to build a nursing home in Broadland.

When Nicholas Hovey, managing director of Tilia Business Park, at Rackheath, began searching for help for his mum, Priscilla Hovey, he was shocked to find services were few and far between.

He said: 'I started to look to place my mother in a dementia home. She's ended up being all the way out at Dereham. I thought, 'this is crazy'.'

Mrs Hovey, 70, was diagnosed with the illness two years ago and, following the death of her husband, her son felt the need to find her 24-hour care - while still maintaining regular contact.

He was so appalled at the thought of relatives having to travel 20 to 30 miles to visit their deteriorating mum or dad the company now has plans to address the shortage at a site in Hoveton.

Tilia Business Park has submitted a planning application to build an 80-bed high-dependency dementia care home, 24 'housing with care' apartments and a seven-bed neurological unit on land currently used to store sand and gravel.

If granted planning permission by North Norfolk District Council, the home on Tunstead Road would create 100 jobs for a mixture of full and part-time workers to provide round-the-clock care.

The care home, apartments and neurological unit would sit between the housing and the Tilia-owned business centre which homes businesses, including yacht builders Landamores.

Mr Hovey said public consultations with homeowners and businesses had found strong support from local doctors, but villager Robert Smith, whose home backs on to the site, has called a public meeting over the proposals.

The meeting, which the applicant has not been invited to, will be chaired by the villager's district and county councillor Nigel Dixon at Hoveton village hall at 7pm tomorrow.

Mr Smith said: 'The valuation of our homes and the quality of our lives are going to be somewhat affected. The building proposed is three storeys.'

Peter Amey, of Hoveton, has written to NNDC to object to the plans. His concerns include fears that allowing a change of use to the land could lead to it being used a rehabilitation centre.

Mr Hovey said the building, would sit on a hill 1.5 storeys above the industrial site. He said: 'Wroxham and Hoveton roll down towards the river. It's south facing - quite a nice situation.'