A NEW care home is set to open next month, creating 70 new jobs.

St Fillian’s Care Home, in St Fillian Road, will be run by Excelcare and is due to open on May 24.

The home will provide care for 71 elderly people.

Paul Smith, St John’s ward councillor on Colchester Council, has called on the firm to recruit locally instead of looking for expertise elsewhere.

“We are hoping for a scenario where it will mean local jobs for local people.

“It makes sense not only for Colchester’s job market but also from a practical point of view, whereby if someone is sick and they need someone to cover, it is possible another employee could be there within half an hour.”

The firm is set to hold a recruitment open day between 10am and 4pm next Friday, April 27 at the centre.

Jobs on offer include support staff and nurses, activities co-ordinators and kitchen and laundry staff.

Each of the rooms will have ensuites while there is also a hairdressing salon, library, cinema room and an outdoor garden.

Originally Essex County Council ran Greenways Care Home, in St Fillian’s Road, until 2005, when the contract was given to Excelcare.

Three years later it closed down.

Fresh plans for the new home were approved by Colchester Council in 2009.