MRS P Flaherty (Letters, April 26) is to be commended for her remarks on the closure of care homes.

And your Comment the same evening was very apt, in that County Councillor Hazel Harding must not have read any papers lately or taken any notice of all the petitions that Lancashire County Council has received from ordinary members of the public against their visionary proposals for the care of the elderly.

To say the least, they are uncaring proposals with no thought for the current residents, etc -- all because they have allowed many homes to deteriorate over the last few years and they saw the Government review request as their answer to cover up neglect of the fabric and structures at many of the homes, by proposing to close them under the guise that they will all be below the required standard by 2007.

Hopefully, her meeting with Social Care Minister Jacqui Smith will confirm that the Government do want all county councils to review care for the elderly, but with consideration, commencing not now, but in the future, with care of the elderly in their own homes first and there then being a residential care home to go to when necessary.

BETTY SPENCER, Sycamore Close, Rishton.