AS the anguish continues for hundreds of old folk and their carers whose future is tied up in Lancashire County Council's move to shut 32 of its homes for the elderly, an intriguing stay-of-execution plan emerges.

It comes from Pendle where the council and the community have resolutely opposed the care homes closures from the outset. Councillors there have called for a feasibility study into the possibility of the three LCC homes in the borough earmarked for closure being run by people other than the county council.

The plan entails setting up a not-for-profit trust to manage the Wheatley Court, Pendle Brook and Walverdene homes, with bodies such as Pendle Council and housing associations involved in its administration. And even though today the LCC's executive member for social services, County Councillor Chris Cheetham, was recommending the full council approve the closure of the 32 homes, he has not ruled out a feasibility study into the Pendle 'rescue' plan taking place.

Nor should he. This decision is vital to the lives and happiness of vulnerable, worried old folk and the people who look after them. Additionally, the Pendle plan is based not only on noble concern for them, but on projections of the level of care provision the borough will need in the future as its elderly population is projected to swell to 20,000 in the coming decades.

And if it is shown that, just as non-profit bodies can make a success of managing housing that once belonged to local authorities, the same can be done with residential care for the elderly, then, surely, this Pendle concept offers hope not just for the threatened homes in that borough, but for others elsewhere.

Even at this stage, it is a prospect that is worth considering across the whole of Lancashire - and one which County Coun Cheetham and his colleagues should urgently investigate for the sake of our old folk. . .and to save themselves from the voters' wrath.