ELDERLY people in residential care across the Fylde Coast are uniting to save their beloved homes from closure.

Worsley House in Fleetwood, Queensway Lodge in Poulton and Crossacres in St Annes are all to be closed down if a radical Lancashire County Council proposal is accepted.

But residents say they feel abandoned and let down by the Government and have initiated petitions. Worsley House on Chatsworth Road has already received hundreds of signatures and massive support from the public.

Olive Hyland, 86, of Worsley House, said: "I don't want it closed down and am very concerned about the whole thing.

"Everyone is so friendly here and I am very happy and settled and thought I would be staying here for the rest of my days. I really don't want unsettlement and change at this stage in my life and I have no idea where I would go."

Another Worsley House resident, 66-year-old Dennis Ashby said: "I have been in and out of homes all my life and this is the nicest I have been in. I don't want to be moved about any more and am very happy here with my friends."

Ellen Heywood, 83, who visits Chatsworth House Resource Day Centre three times a week, said: "I would be in a deep depression if I couldn't come here and chat with everyone and I am very grateful to visit the place."

Jennifer Jones, a volunteer worker at Milbanke Day Centre in Kirkham, rang The Citizen with concerns about the mental health of pensioners who would be unable to visit such centres.

She said: "Although the proposals plan to keep Milbanke running, it would mean closure for the day centre. I feel extremely worried and concerned about the mental health of elderly people who will have nowhere to go and have minimal social contact.

"The day centres help keep their minds active and alive and I am sure that closure of these will lead to more mental health problems in the long run."

The LCC proposes to cut the number of council-managed homes for the elderly in Lancashire by nearly three quarters.

A major consultation will focus on the way the council delivers residential and day care services for older people in Lancashire and proposes a range of measures which are purported to be aimed at improving the help it currently offers and bringing the services more in line with what people want.

But Lancashire's Lib Dem leader, County Coun David Whipp, has slammed the Labour authority's consultation a sham.

Speaking before Thursday's meeting which is due to approve the process, Coun Whipp said: "The so-called consultation is just a spin-doctoring PR exercise. No genuine choice is offered. There is just a single option outcome. It is a sham.

"This 'There Is No Alternative' attitude beggars belief. No amount of PR can hide the betrayal of the past principles of the Labour Party."

Coun Whipp then called on Labour members to tear up their membership cards. "If they can't stomach what the Labour Party is doing, it's time for them to leave," he said. "Clearly, they have no influence over what is being done in their name."

The consultation will run until June this year and promises to take in the views of residents currently in the care homes managed by Lancashire County Care Services and their relatives, older people who use the centres, carers, staff, business, voluntary and statutory organisations, local government and other interested parties.

Currently, Lancashire County Care Services manage 48 homes for the elderly on behalf of the County Council, caring for 1,250 residents. This number is planned to be reduced to 13 units providing 572 places, mainly for high dependency residents.

The council says the proposals aim to help people stay in their own homes longer, provide alternatives to long-term residential care, improve selected residential care homes, reduce the council's role as a long-term provider of traditional residential care while developing a range of specialist services in care homes and the re-organisation of day care.

County Coun Chris Cheetham, cabinet member for social services said: "We are very aware of the changing needs of older people.

"The message we have been getting for some time is that people prefer to stay in their own homes and welcome support that enables them to do that.

"This, alongside regulations to introduce standards for care homes, has prompted us to look at the current provision and consider these radical steps to modernise our services for older people. We have drawn up these proposals and now want to listen to what the people of Lancashire think about them."

A public meeting will be held at Worsley House, Chatsworth Avenue, Fleetwood, next Monday (February 11) at 6.30pm to discuss ways of keeping the homes open. Another meeting is planned to take place at Milbanke, Station Road, Kirkham, next Friday (February 15) at 6.30pm.