CAMPAIGNERS will today (Weds, May 20) urge council leaders to overturn their decision to close a Southampton care home.

The decision to close Woodside Lodge came last year, but the home is still open with assessments taking place of people affected by the closure and other cuts to adult social care services.

And those hoping to keep it open have launched a last-ditch bid to convince council leaders to prevent it closing later this year, and will speak at a council meeting later today.

The home in Wimpson Lane, which largely deals with dementia sufferers, was among a raft of services axed by the cash-strapped council last year, as well as a respite centre and day services for adults with learning disabilities.

One hundred and thirty jobs may also be lost, although council chiefs stressed that many may be found new positions.

Council leader Simon Letts pledged that he would not close any of the facilities until assessments of all the affected service users had taken place and alternatives had been found for them, saying the closures may be reconsidered if none can be found.

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Woodside Lodge

But the group campaigning against the closure of Woodside Lodge have been joined in their fight against the closure by the relatives of some of its remaining residents.

Ann Channell, whose 92-year-old step-father William Broomfield, a Second World War veteran with dementia lives in the home, is calling on council leaders to reverse their decision.

She said: "I'm being pressured to move him. I'm just totally terrified.

"The home that they want me to look at is possibly going to be twice the money he pays now.

"I would like him to stay where he is. He's worked all of his life and I want him to have the care that he deserves.

"Why does he have to move from a place where he is very happy?"

Linda Hayes, who has organised the campaign against the closure and gathered hundreds of names on a petition, said: "Elderly people should have a choice to stay at home with their choice.

"As David Cameron said it is important to look after our most vulnerable and elderly people in this country."

A spokesman for the council said 49 per cent of all assessments had been completed, adding: "The situation with regard to any closures remains unchanged from when the cabinet last considered this matter in January when the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care made it clear that there will be no service closures until all of the reviews have been completed and alternative arrangements have been made for service users.

"The Cabinet will receive a further report on the process in the summer."

He added that Woodside Lodge would not close "until all of the meaning residents have been safely relocated into appropriate alternative care facilities".