Madam,

Further to the recent disclosure of how the council has been spending our money in using PricewaterhouseCoopers to the tune of £2m, ostensibly to cut costs; they are proposing to act as a bank for a local business-man. Both of these decisions are highly questionable. Vince Morgans was obliged to renovate the Deva as a condition of sale. He has failed to do so despite an enforcement notice. However it now appears that he may be a beneficiary of public money to the tune of a £500,000 interest-free loan. Why is public money being used in such a way? The council had other options as a result of non-compliance. In the spirit of transparency and openness, it would be very interesting to know the names of the councillors involved and how this proposal was negotiated and sanctioned. Perhaps a Freedom of Information request could be made by the Cambrian News in the interests of the public who are inadvertently funding this? We would hopefully at least be retrospectively informed, gain insight into the processes followed and be able to apply this knowledge when casting our votes in the future. It would appear our elder citizens in particular are feeling the results of cuts in expenditure. The criteria to ingress residential care is now so narrow that it appears all but impossible to access via the local authority for long-term care. I would suggest that this reflects the empty beds in the homes rather than the choices or needs of the community. Social isolation has been empirically evidenced to increase the chances of developing a form of dementia and inevitably impacts greatly on mental and physical health. The proposed closure of Bodlondeb residential home is a legacy decision, which will inevitably be expanded to include all the local authority older persons’ homes. Having failed in an attempt to close this service previously, we as citizens are being informed that it will be utilised to provide a nursing dementia service.

Who would argue that there is not an urgent need for this facility? However the Bodlondeb building is totally inappropriate to fulfilling this gap in our care resources. Surely we would want a provision that we could be proud of and was designed around the specific needs of people with nursing needs dementia? Does it make sense to lose one valuable means of support in order to meet another? In the absence of a new purpose-built facility, would the Deva not make a lovely setting? It was after all a former care home. The council clearly has a spare £500,000 in order to fund a complete remodelling and renovation; a building fit for purpose could then be purchased by an independent pro-vider and we as a community would benefit and gain added value for money.

Yours etc

Louise Roberts

Portland Road

Aberystwyth.