Madam,

The Campaign to Save Bodlondeb residential home in Aberystwyth is seeking the support of residents in the south of Ceredigion as it believes that, if Bodlondeb closes, it will be the first in a systematic programme of council-run home closures.

So far, the campaign has been able to strip away the council’s ‘arguments’ on why the home should close to reveal the true reasons: a short-term financial fix and a desire to abdicate responsibility for providing residential care to the population it is supposed to represent.

The council says that Bodlondeb runs at a loss, not all its rooms are big enough to meet new standards and that new legislation obliges it to move the focus of care to the community setting and to develop new partnerships with health, volunteer organisations and communities (ie families and neighbours)

In 2014, Ceredigion Council paid Housing Research Ltd to undertake a review of council-run homes. The subsequent report forms a “key element of the council’s future planning programme”, they say.

At best, it presents a fairly uncertain future for all council-run homes in the county. However the review also states that, for the more dependent person, residential care is a less costly option than home care but that people at home “may not wish to move from their current accommodation” (Housing Research Ltd).

In other words, some people have the right to their wishes being respected while current residents of Bodlondeb could be shipped out of county at the council’s pleasure.

The current situation regarding room sizes is that the Welsh Government’s planned legislation is not retrospective and so does not apply. The new legislation referred to by the council, the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014, does promote care in the community but insists that councils continue to provide choice in a “continuum of care”.

The council’s proposal to close Bodlondeb is purely financial. Councils and councillors and even periods of financial hardship come and go but when our residential homes are gone, they’re gone. If Bodlondeb closes, the council will come after Yr Hafod, Hafan Deg, and so on, until all council-run homes are gone.

Please, wherever you live in Ceredigion, be aware that the proposed closure of Bodlondeb is your problem too. Think of how the closure of your local council-run home and the potential of its residents being moved to homes miles away would affect your community and let the council know, by signing our petition and completing the council’s consultation form before 25 September and say: ‘Not Bodlondeb and not my community’.

The consultation document on the closure of Bodlondeb is available online at [email protected] from council offices in Aberystwyth, or by telephoning: 01545 572616.

You can add your name to the Save Bodlondeb petition by emailing your name and post code to [email protected]

Yours etc,

George Holloway, on behalf of Save Bodlondeb Steering Group.

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