A CAMPAIGN has been launched opposing the closure of a care home.

Action group Residents and Families Association of Lower Ridge is challenging Lancashire County Council’s consultation on a proposal to close one of its 18 county council-run homes, Lower Ridge in Burnley, at its cabinet meeting on April 12.

The decision comes after County Hall bosses voiced their concerns about the poor condition of the building and low occupancy rates at the home.

County Cllr Graham Gooch, cabinet member for adult services, said fewer and fewer people were using the service and it now had a typical occupancy rate of only 65 per cent compared to 94 per cent for other county council care homes.

However the residents action group, which was formed on the day the consultation was announced, has now begun a petition to save the home from closure and 30 different copies of the paper petition have been sent around Burnley.

Founding member Diane Walmsley, said she was worried about where her grandmother, Dotty, would move to having stayed at the Belvedere Road care home for the last nine months.

The 79-year-old woman, who has dementia and used to live across the road, faces the prospect of having to move to a county-council run home in Padiham, which is nearly four miles away, or Bacup, which is more than eight miles away.

The 37-year-old grand-daughter has accused the council of ‘fobbing off’ the group by saying it will cost more to keep it open than to shut it.

She said: “Some residents who can understand what is going on are really upset and feel the home has been left to get to poor standards of repair."

“No substantial amount of money has been invested in the property for over 10 years. The council have left it to get wrecked and ruined and now they have no choice but to close it.

“The staff have worked there for years and the home is a good home.”

The residents action has also claimed an older council email address was attached to consultation leaflets, which meant people could not contact them via email.

In response, a council spokesman said: “Unfortunately, the incorrect email address was provided on a leaflet during a meeting, but the correct address is now being sent out for people who would like to respond by email.”

The council have also said there are currently six spare dementia beds and 11 spare older persons residential beds across our six other county council run care homes in East Lancashire.

Further meetings with residents at Lower Ridge and their families were expected to take place this week and in June to give people the opportunity to discuss any issues.

People can have their say or find out more about the consultation at www.lancashire.gov.uk/haveyoursay