THE consultation into the future of the Bodlondeb care home in Penparcau will not be extended despite a plea from the campaign group fighting to keep the home open.

The council’s consultation into the potential closure of the home is due to end on 25 September.

Mark Williams, the former Ceredigion MP who is chair of the Save Bodlondeb group, had called on the council to extend that consultation to allow for the summer period and following the council’s announcement that it is reviewing the costs it initially put forward for the renovation of the home.

But the council Cabinet has rejected that request and insisted that it had allowed for an extended consultation of 12 weeks instead of the eight-week consultation recommended by the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales.

Mr Williams has hit out at the council and questioned whether the consultation would have any impact, especially after a council report identified savings from the closure of Bodlondeb in a finance document about savings targets.

He said: “What kind of consultation is this?

“Is it genuinely open-minded to alternatives to closure?

“It seems that this consultation has been pre-determined if an assessment of the adult social care budget has already factored in savings made were Bodlondeb to close."

During the Cabinet meeting, council leader Ellen ap Gwynn said she did not support extending the consultation, despite backing from Cllr Alun Lloyd Jones, the chair of the healthier communities scrutiny committee.

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