Decision delayed over homes future

LANCASHIRE County Council has postponed a decision on the future of 10 elderly care facilities, saying it needs “extra time” to consider the results of a public consultation.

- BY JON MACPHERSON

Woodlands Home for Older People in Clayton-le-Moors.

The council began a review in October of five care homes and five day centres, citing the buildings’ “significantly poor condition.”

The plans sparked protests from families of residents and service users, who feared potential closures at sites across Hyndburn, Chorley, Fylde, Lancaster, Pendle, West Lancashire, and Wyre.

Petitions supporting the facilities attracted thousands of signatures. Council leaders have repeatedly stressed that no decisions have been made and that all options remain under consideration.

Cabinet members were initially expected to consider the matter in February, but the council now says the process will take longer after receiving more than 1,600 consultation responses, which closed on December 12. Stephen Atkinson, Reform UK leader on the council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that a decision may come “later in the spring.”

Explaining the delay, he said: “We need to consider every one of those responses out of the consultation process... every one of them is a heartfelt response from a resident, a member of staff or a relative. We take their views very seriously.

“We understand that [in some cases] it is their home - and our desire is to create a better service for the whole of Lancashire.”

But the leader of the Progressive Lancashire main opposition group at County Hall, Azhar Ali, said that the further “indefinite” uncertainty that had been caused for families was “unacceptable and cruel”.