Family upset over 'diabolical' care home closure

Anna Froud said her son Gordon loves the staff at Parrot Farmhouse care home

A man with severe learning disabilities is facing being moved out of the care home he has lived in for 36 years.

Gordon Froud, who has autism and epilepsy, has lived at Parrot Farmhouse in Shinfield, Berkshire, since he was 16 and was told it would be his "forever home".

But his family have now been informed he will have to move out by the end of October, a decision they have branded as "diabolical" and "a disaster".

Dimensions, the not-for-profit company that runs the site, said the home was closing because of its "age and condition".

Colin and Anna Froud have been left upset at the prospect of moving their son to a new home

Colin and Anna Froud - Gordon's parents - believed the farmhouse was the ideal home for their son and described helping to convert it in the 1980s.

"We were told 'it's a home for life' - and we were hoping that was what was going to happen," said 76-year-old mum Anna.

"He went there at 16 - he's 52 now. He loves all the staff."

His father Colin, 80, said the decision to shut the home - which is on Arborfield Road and home to six residents - was a "disaster".

"To move him would be diabolical and we don't think it's right," he said.

The home is run by Dimensions, which said it could extend the October deadline it had given "if necessary"

Gordon's sister Kelly is worried about the impact on their parents.

"They don't drive so they're worried Gordon will be placed somewhere they can't get to, they won't be able to visit him, they're worried he won't settle, that he will panic," she said.

"Parrot Farm is all he knows and all he wants."

In a statement, Dimensions said: "In the event that the right new home has not been found for someone by the end of October, the timeline can be extended.

"Every colleague will be able to keep their job, working in the local area.

"The decision to close Parrot Farmhouse reflects the age and condition of the property."

Councillor David Hare, executive member for adult services, health and wellbeing at Wokingham Borough Council, said the home was run privately and the closure had not been the authority's decision.

"We will work closely with Dimensions, the people who live at the home and their families, to find safe and appropriate alternative homes to live in," he added.