Lancashire’s reform council has been accused of “selling the silver lining” over plans to save £4m a year on council care and a five-day center and land sale.
One of the residents of the care home, a 92-year-old woman, said that she only leaves “forcefully removed or in a box”.
The son of another resident, a reform voter, said any move would “kill him” and vowed to quit the Party if the closures continued.
Questions have also been asked about a potential conflict of interest involving the Repormet Cabinet for social care in Lancashire, who owns a private care company with his wife.
UK reform took control of Lancashire County Council (LCC) from the conservatives in May, winning 53 of the 84 available seats.
In June, the cabinet voted on the “dog” unit of the Reform “, but they have not reached the Wrangles of the data.
The reform says it should see £103m of cuts in Lancashire, and the Cabinet agree to find the social savings of Social Services of around £50m in 2025-26 and 2026-27. Closing care homes and day centers could save £4.16m, says Lcc.
Annually, the LCC currently spends around £545m on adult social care.
Last month It launched a consultation In moving residents across five local authority care homes and elsewhere, “enhancing the resident experience, while delivering significant savings”. This means more and more elderly people in Lancashire need to be cared for in their own homes.
Margaret France, a Labor councilor in Chorley, said it was like “selling silverware” and “opening the door to private providers”.
One of the houses is in the woods of Clayton-le-Moors in Accrington. The Council said it would need to spend £1.39m to bring it to a halt.
Dorothy Devereux, 92, a former nurse lived in the woods for 12 years. He said that he was destroyed by the proposals and forced him not to leave without a fight.
“This is our home,” he said. “Where are we all going?” He doubts that keeping him out of the private sector has saved the council any money, and says he can’t go home to sell his house to pay his fees.
He added: “I stay here until I am forced or in a box.”
Phil Price, whose mother was at Grove House in Adlington, another home singled out for closure, said: “My mother is 93. If she kills it.”
He said he was angered by what he feared was a conflict of interest involving care reform for a private care company in Lancashire.
“I am a paid member of the reform and I am angry with him” said price.
He voted for the reform they knew would cut the “waste”. But he said: “If there are parents who have paid into the system all their lives, working hard for this country, if they’re a quitter.” He said he would stop reform if the houses were closed.
When discussing the closures of LCC’s health care home and adult care at Social Services on Wednesday, Dalton insisted he was not conflicted.
Dalton, a registered nurse, told the committee he was a part owner of “1st for care in GB”. The company, based in Lancaster, offers private care, including 24-hour complex care and respite care. But he stressed that he had “no means or non-pecuniary interest” – ie a financial or non-financial interest – in closing the nursing home.
He was challenged by councilors including Liz Mcinnes, a former Labor MP who now sits on Rossendale Borough Council. He said: “I’m sure that in our council if there is a part-owner of a care service that can be counted as an unprepared interest because they can benefit from the care of nursing homes.”
In August the quality of care for adults in Lancashire’s social services was rated as “requires improvement”, finding long waits for services in many and “too few places”.