STORTHES Hall could become one of Britain's first retirement communities.

The University of Huddersfield has sold a huge section of its Kirkburton campus to a developer.

And plans are expected to go before Kirklees Council for a complex of bungalows and flats for people aged over 60.

The university has sold the former upper hospital site at Storthes Hall Park for development as a Continuing Care Retirement Community - based on a model developed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The sale includes the pasture and woodland areas.

The university has retained ownership of the outdoor sports facilities, which it operates in partnership with Huddersfield Town Football Club.

The sale follows a decision two years ago by the university to sell off the student blocks on the site.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity which handles social care issues, is not the purchaser but is working with the developer - as yet unnamed. The price paid to the university has not been revealed.

A planning application will shortly be submitted to council for the self-contained retirement community on the brown-field former hospital site, next to the Storthes Hall Park Student Village.

The exact number of retirement homes on the site has yet to be confirmed.

The development is likely to follow the model pioneered by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation at Hartrigg Oaks in York, with landscaped gardens and a modern, state-of- the-art care centre.

The village will offer communal facilities for the over 60s who wish to live in a complex independently but secure in the knowledge that care and support is available either in their own homes or the on-site care centre.

Residents pay a residence fee for one of the bungalows and then an annual community fee to cover the cost of the communal facilities. Exact prices have not been revealed.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation supports a wide programme of research and development projects in housing, social care and social policy.

The university's Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Tarrant, said: "We are delighted that the sale has gone ahead and particularly pleased that the site will be used in a socially-responsible and pioneering fashion.

"The former hospital site at Storthes Hall is ideal for an imaginative development of this kind - one that respects the landscape features and the potential for leisure and community use.

"The footpaths and woodlands will remain accessible for the public and residents of the proposed retirement development will have extensive parkland to enjoy."

The university and the National Health Service both have an interest in the site and have been seeking a buyer for the remaining land since the student village was sold to a private company in 2003.