SOCIAL services bosses have refused to attend a meeting to discuss the proposed closure of a home for the elderly after claiming they were not given enough notice.

Campaigners battling to save Shadsworth House, in Dunoon Drive, Blackburn, invited members of the local council's social services committee to discuss their fears for the future.

But the Blackburn with Darwen councillors say they have already met three times with relatives of residents.

And they also say they were only given three days' notice of the meeting, to be held tonight at the Shadsworth Neighbourhood Centre in Rothesay Road at 7pm.

In a letter to the campaign leader Marjorie McCarthy, Councillor Sue Reid, chairman of the social services committee, explained why she and her colleagues Councillors Jack Bury and Dorothy Greenwood would not attend the meeting.

She said: "Having met with you and some of the other members of the Action Group on three occasions already I feel that we have probably explored all of the issues which you and the group may wish to raise on Thursday night. "Obviously if, after the meeting, you feel that new information has come to light that has not previously been brought to the attention of councillors and officers, please do not hesitate to send this on to the social service department."

Marjorie McCarthy said: "They are running scared. The last time we had a meeting we were asking awkward questions and they don't want to face us again.

"We now have the backing of the Blackburn Trades Council in our campaign and they have given us further evidence that Shadsworth House should not be closed down.

"They can come up with all these excuses but we know they don't want to meet us because we are making life difficult for them."

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