Council urged to re-think closure of Staveley Care Home
The closure of a much-loved Lake District care home has been put on ice until the New Year.
Last month The Abbey in Staveley near Kendal was ordered to shut by the county council's ruling Labour and Liberal Democrat cabinet.
They found that the 28-bed unit, which is now down to just four residents, is no longer 'fit for purpose' despite a 'good' grading by the Care Quality Commission.
But three county councillors - Staveley's Stan Collins, Jim Bland of the Lyth Valley and the Kent Estuary's Pete McSweeney - all opposed the decision.
They successfully won a 'call in' which put the matter before the council's scrutiny management board at a meeting in County Hall, Kendal, on Wednesday.
The cross-party board heard representations from both sides of the debate and narrowly agreed - five votes to four - to send the matter back to the cabinet in January.
Committee chairman Cllr Bill Wearing, of Grange, will now head to Carlisle to appeal for a re-think on the grounds that the board is 'concerned' that 'future options' for care in Staveley and 'their costs' needed to be understood before the home was closed.
It also expressed concern about the consultation exercise carried out by the council and whether sufficient numbers of local councillors were aware it was at risk of closure.
Speaking afterwards, Cllr Collins, the Liberal Democrat for Staveley, said: "I think today is a moral victory but more than that it's a victory in that it gives pause to the process so that cabinet can think again about all the options they should be exploring before they decide anything on the future of any care home."
Board member Cllr James Airey, leader of the opposition Conservative, proposed the decision be sent back.
He told the hearing: "It's important the community of Staveley know what options are going to be on the table in future because it's too easy to close a home, talk about future options and then for them to just disappear off the table."
Cllr Pat Bell, the Liberal Democrat cabinet member, appeared before the board, and gave the reasons for the original decision and said the council was actively in talks with various groups about an alternative care model for Staveley.
The cabinet may still uphold its original decision to close.