Richard Burt - letter to editor - Pershore Care Centre Scrutiny Decision

10.26.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 10th Apr 2008

Dear Editor,

I write to express my great sadness that the last ditch effort to save Pershore Care Centre was lost at County Hall yesterday.

Despite the eloquent and moving testimony of parents and carers, supported by County Councillors Liz Tucker and Penelope Morgan, it became clear very early in the three and a half hour discussion that there was no likelihood of a reprieve for the Centre.

Having been the Chairman of a scrutiny committee on another authority, I know the harsh reality of how they work.

Any group of councillors can challenge an unpopular decision, but this committee has an inbuilt majority of councillors from the ruling Conservative Group, so unless they can be persuaded to go against their own cabinet member, the committee cannot even recommend the reversal of a decision.

Council Leaders are not renowned for putting independent minded colleagues on scrutiny committees.

Instead, the arguments were ground down by the cabinet member responsible for the decision and the officers who support the closure plan until, with a few concessions tossed in to soften the blow, parents of the men who will lose their Day Centre were left speechless, frustrated and defeated.

Make no mistake, Peshore Care Centre is the jewel in the crown of the Worcestershire service for adults with profound multiple learning difficulties, but the County Council has decided it is costing too much money to run it.

Councillor Phillip Gretton admitted that the initial plan to close the Centre was to save money, but since then the Conservatives have introduced the drive for integrated service provision as a small fig leaf to hide a very large embarrassment.

How can they justify spending over £1million pounds on refurbishing councillors personal offices and the council chamber at the same time as closing this Centre, saving no more than a quarter of that sum over three years?

Pershore Care Centre is a second home for the four men who spend their week days there. They are fully integrated with, and supported by the Pershore community, who have raised £132,000 over the years to help with the facilities and running activities.

These men, the most vulnerable in our midst, have no choice. The care team they have grown up with and the place they treat like home is to be broken up and closed down, with all the uncertainty and distress this will cause for them and their families.

Parent and carer Judy Hall said with such conviction, "If we thought you were closing Pershore to offer better provision, we would snatch your hand off, but we don't, and you are not."

Is £85,000 a year really too much to pay for the quality of life and stability these men and others have enjoyed for the past twenty years?

Yours sincerely,

Richard Burt

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate

West Worcestershire