Two care homes in Tonbridge and Malling are set to shut, meaning scores of elderly residents will have to be re-homed.

Abbeyfield Kent, which runs the Greensted in Wateringbury and St Martins in Larkfield, says it has been left with no alternative but to close and redevelop the complexes as “extra care schemes” within a year.

The charity is yet to receive planning permission for the proposals, but has broken news to its residents about its intentions.

Greensted in The Orpines, has 38 residents and 47 staff members and provides specialist round-the-clock care for people with Parkinson’s, while St Martins in Martin Square caters for 41 elderly people and employs 44 staff.

Director of corporate services at the care home provider, Laurence Fowler-Stevens, said: “It is with a very heavy heart that we have had to share this news with our residents, their relatives and our staff as, understandably, it is not the news they would want to hear.

“I am keen to stress that the existing care and resettlement of our residents is our first and foremost priority. We will be working directly with our excellent staff, residents and their families to ensure we approach this change in a sensitive manner, making this as comfortable as we can for our residents and their families.”

He also said that the staff will also be supported in finding jobs elsewhere.

The homes are set to shut in March or April next year, and building work on the new complexes would be completed around 18 months later.

If the council reject the plans, the charity says it will negotiate until it can come up with something the authority is happy with.

Extra care schemes are an increasingly popular alternative to care homes, allowing older people to live in their own homes but with services on hand if they need them. The charity said that the move was in responses to challenges in the care sector, and that the homes were both too old to be converted or modernised.

Both Greensted and St Martins were judged to be meeting care standards in all areas when they were last inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Are you or a family member affected by the closure? Get in touch on 01622 695666 or messengernews@thekmgroup.co.uk