Windermere care home closes despite fight to save it

MP Tim Farron campaigned to save the care home

A care home which looked after people with physical disabilities and complex needs has closed despite campaigners' efforts to keep it open.

The Leonard Cheshire charity announced earlier this year it could no longer afford to run Holehird, in Windermere, which had 24 residents and 60 staff.

It described the decision as "extremely difficult".

The area's MP, Liberal Democrat Tim Farron, accused it of having "behaved disgracefully".

Talks had taken place with another care provider, but a deal could not be reached.

All residents have been moved to new homes and the building will be handed back to its owners, the Holehird Trust.

Mr Farron, who represents Westmorland and Lonsdale, said he was "heartbroken" as there had been "a viable provider willing to take over the care".

'Dragged their feet'

"I think Leonard Cheshire have behaved disgracefully throughout. I asked them to delay the decision, they refused," he said.

"They dragged their feet, before going and issuing redundancy notices anyway, completely undermining the stage we were at.

"They moved the residents out without giving the families hope that there was an alternative, which there was.

"The decision itself was bad, but to conduct themselves in this way is utterly reprehensible and undermines all the things [RAF veteran and humanitarian] Leonard Cheshire was about when he set up the charity."

A spokesman for the charity said it "could not justify the level of investment required" at the building it leased.

"We were fully supportive of St Gregory's Homecare's interest in Holehird, extending our consultation with staff so their discussions could take place.

"Mr Farron wrote to us at the time, expressing his concern about the negative impact that changing redundancy deadlines were having on people's lives.

"It would have been grossly unfair to keep stopping and starting a redundancy process as this would have caused further uncertainty and anxiety for staff about their futures, as well as people living at Holehird."