A CARE home, respite centre and day services for vulnerable adults in Southampton will close next year.

City council chiefs tonight voted to press ahead with £1.5m of cuts that will also mean up to 130 jobs will be lost.

The proposals, previously reported on by the Daily Echo, have gone through two rounds of consultation over the past six months.

And despite carers and mental health organisations pleading with them to change their minds, the Labour-run council's cabinet tonight voted to approve the cuts.

It means Woodside Lodge, a care home for elderly people with dementia, the Kentish Road respite centre and day services running from the St Denys and Freemantle community centres will all close at some point next year.

The cuts come on top of other cutbacks proposed for 2015/16, which could see another 222 jobs go as the council battles to plug a £30m gap in the city's finances for next year.

Labour say the proposals are necessary as the council copes with ongoing funding cuts from central Government.

But carers have attacked the proposals, with Karen Vowles from Shirley, who has a relative currently at Woodside Lodge, saying: “They have not listened to any of the feedback through meetings or the questionnaires they asked us to fill out.

“I think it is terrible that Southampton City Council state that one of their seven priorities is 'protecting vulnerable people' and yet can go ahead with these proposals.”

Cllr Simon Letts, leader of Southampton City Council, gave personal assurances that if no suitable alternatives for the respite centre and day services were out there they will remain open.