Osborne Grove Nursing Home will be demolished and replaced with a £30.8million 70-bed facility, after Haringey Council’s cabinet approved the project.

The home, in Upper Tollington Park, has been controversial in the last few years. It was saved in one of Cllr Joseph Ejiofor's administration's first decisions, at a meeting last June.

According to the plans, the current 32-patient home will be demolished after the remaining two residents have moved out. In its place, the council will build a larger 70-bed nursing home. It would include a day centre, as well as a cafe space.

Haringey's health chief, Cllr Sarah James (Lab, Harringay) told the meeting on Tuesday night that she was "extremely pleased" with the proposals. Families of current and previous residents at the care home had been involved in the plans, as part of a co-design group.

The costs have risen sharply since the decision was taken to save the home in June last year. At the time cabinet members were told it would cost £6.7m to carry out the demolition and rebuild. This has now increased by more than four-and-a-half times. The £30.8m will be spread over five years.

The current home was only built in 2008. Cllr James acknowledged that the short build-life was "shocking" and "not good enough."

The meeting heard that the home had originally been designed as a residential care home, but ended up being a nursing home as residents' needs increased.

This meant that the lifts are not wide enough for hospital beds, doors are too narrow and patients' rooms fall below national standards for size.

The home was saved after a battle between campaigners and previous leader Claire Kober's council. It had been rated "inadequate" by the Care and Quality Commission after inspectors found 16 out of 19 residents had not had a bath in three months. This was one of the reasons for the proposed closure, which was later overturned.

Liz Squires who was part of the co-design group and whose mother Ruby was a resident at home until she died in February said it was also important council bosses learned from problems in the past.

She said: "When we met there wasn't that debate about the errors of the past and how we learn from them in the future. It's fine if the council wants to invest in a great building, but they need to make sure the service is good enough as well."