THE campaign group fighting to save Aberystwyth’s Bodlondeb care home has launched a steering group to draw up an alternative plan to closure to put pressure on council chiefs.

The Save Bodlondeb group held a public meeting which saw around 60 people attend on Monday, 24 July, to voice their opposition to the loss of the council-operated residential care home in Aberystwyth.

Former Ceredigion MP Mark Williams, who chaired the meeting, insisted, though, that simply opposing the closure of Bodlondeb was not the way forward and said there was a need to put forward an alternative, as well as consider how care services in north Ceredigion should be organised to meet future needs.

A steering group will be formed to work on a proposal that can be put forward to the council alongside a petition and letters opposing the closure.

That group, which is a cross-­political party organisation, will be chaired by Mr Williams and include Ceredigion AM Elin Jones and MP Ben Lake, as well as representatives of resident families, Friends of Bodlondeb, Penparcau Community Forum, the Unison and GMB unions, local councillors, Ceredigion People’s Assembly and each of the local political parties.

The first meeting of the group will now be held on Monday, 31 July.

Dinah Mulholland, Labour’s candidate in May’s General Election, said the group must work quickly to ensure a response is arranged before the close of the consultation on 25 September. They are expecting to meet on a weekly basis to draw up a strategy.

Mr Williams said an alternative proposal was vital.

See this week’s south editions for the full story, in shops and online now