BACKBENCH councillors have claimed a vital report was weighted so county hall bosses would have no choice but to close Lancashire care homes.

The conclusion has been made in a report by a task group of ten councillors, who were asked to scrutinise plans to shut most of the county council's 48 care homes, including 19 in East Lancashire.

Today Labour's county council leader Hazel Harding branded the claim as "nonsense" but said it proved that they were allowing everyone to have their say on the proposals.

Members of the internal overview and scrutiny committee will discuss the task group's findings tomorrow.

Two county councillors were asked to go into each district and look at the plans to close the homes after they were announced in January, prompting widespread objections and a Lancashire Evening Telegraph campaign of opposition.

They were asked to see what they thought of the details of the Pinders report, which was carried out by consultants to give a cost of repairing and refurbishing the homes.

The report stated that £4.5million was needed to bring the homes up to new government standards due to be implemented in 2007, and a further £10million was needed to refurbish the homes to what was deemed an acceptable standard.

But in the task group's report for Hyndburn's five homes, carried out by Burnley Labour councillor John Cavanagh and South Ribble Lib Dem Tony Pimblett, it is claimed that the Pinders report appears to be weighted to support closure.

It states: "Pinders report seems to exaggerate any shortcomings these homes may have and in some instances figures quoted are not accurate.

"It seems these reports have been formulated to a given criteria to assist closure and not for continuing use."

Today Burnley MP Peter Pike said: "This report certainly strengthens the case for a rethink. I think some homes are worse than others."

Mr Pike offered to accompany senior county councillors round the homes earmarked for closure in Burnley to assess their physical state.

Tomorrow's meeting must formulate a list of recommendations for County Councillor Chris Cheetham who is in charge of social services.

Coun Cheetham has already delayed the final decision over whether to close the care homes for a month, until August.

One of the reasons he gave for this was to give the cabinet the chance to read the task group report in full.

Today Ms Harding said: "It is simply not true that we asked Pinders to produce a report so we could close the homes.

"We asked them to tell us how much it would cost to bring them up to government standards and how much to fully refurbish them.

"The figures are not unrealistic considering we have already spent £1million this year on emergency repairs.

"I have been into some homes and the residents have said the figures are not accurate.

"People at one home said it did not need a new roof because it had a new one two years ago. In fact what actually happened was that only part of the roof had been replaced."

Lancashire Care Association. which represents private sector homes, and local government union UNISON have both disputed the Pinders figures in the past.

But County Councillor Harding said today: "The consultants at Pinders are the experts. At least this report proves we are letting everybody have their say.

"We aren't just closing care homes for the sake of it and no final decision has been taken.

"The overall report from the task group seems to support what we are doing but is concerned about how we are going to change."

In the future more people are expected to be cared for in their own homes.

Today Coun Cavanagh said: "I think it is best I do not say anything until the decision."

Councillor Pimblett could not be contacted for comment.