Gloucestershire care home closure challenge rejected

The Elms care home in Stonehouse is one of four set to close

Four council care homes in Gloucestershire are set to shut in the autumn after an attempt to challenge the closures was rejected.

Six opposition councillors on the county council 'called-in' the decision to close the homes which was made by the cabinet on 22 June.

But a committee voted by five votes to four to reject the challenge, allowing the closures to stand.

Around 80 residents affected will be moved to alternative care settings.

Gloucestershire County Council's Liberal Democrat group said it had serious questions over the processes taken ahead of the closure decision involving Orchard House in Bishops Cleeve, Westbury Court in Westbury, Bohanam House in Gloucester and The Elms in Stonehouse.

The council said there was falling demand for places at venues like Bohanam House in Gloucester

However, the Conservative-led council's adult social care and communities scrutiny committee voted to reject the call-in at a meeting on Wednesday.

"The majority of the committee were not convinced by the argument that the decision-making process hadn't been followed and therefore dismissed the 'call in'," said committee chairman Stephan Fifield.

'Vulnerable' residents moved

Liberal Democrat spokesperson for adult social care, Jeremy Hilton, said the group still believed closing the homes was the "wrong decision".

"I am sure our colleagues from across the aisle will eventually see the folly in the decision they made today," he said.

"Because of their vote, 80 of our most vulnerable residents will have to cope with being forced from their homes and relocated elsewhere," he added.

A six-week consultation was held and four petitions were launched to save the homes, collecting more than 2,300 signatures, but the council said the sites were not fit for purpose and that more people wanted to be cared for in their own homes

It added that the closures were part of wider plans to shape the future of its social care sector.