SOUTHAMPTON politicians are calling for the council to keep a respite centre open after it received a massive social care windfall.

Kentish Road respite centre in Shirley has been earmarked for closure by Southampton City Council in order to save £300,000 a year.

But after it received a grant of £9.7 million to spend on adult social care over the next three years until 2020, as revealed in yesterday’s Daily Echo, politicians say Labour councillors should act now.

Councillor Keith Morrell, leader of the Putting People First Group on the city council, said: “We need proper ongoing funding and not one-off grants that would end in two or three years when we’d be back to square one.

“The city’s Labour administration should be demanding that the government fully fund social care from general taxation and that Southampton should be guaranteed ongoing, adequate funding to meet its needs.

“The council should find the money to keep the centre open because it is an important resource.

“However, if it needs to draw down this grant money to do so then it will at least buy some time before adequate funding across the board can be won from the government.”

Denise Wyatt, the leader of Southampton Independents, said: “I know what it is like for those parents because I have a disabled son who is now an adult and received care.

“The Labour council says it doesn’t have the money to keep the centre open but it is receiving millions from the government for social care.”

In response, Councillor Warwick Payne, portfolio holder for adult social care on the city council, insisted that the cash was only temporary and should only be used for short-term projects of which Kentish Road was not included.

But he insisted that a deal with a charity could be on the cards to keep the centre open.

It is currently earmarked for closure in October, though parents are petitioning to save it.