Madam,

With reference to the county council’s need to revise the plans for Cylch Caron Extra Care housing development (Cambrian News, 4 January), conventional wisdom has it that if you are in a hole, you should stop digging. Social Services say that they are basing their future care provision largely on the basis of a report that they comissioned in 2014. A report whose author later stated that the Extra Care model was not well suited to dementia care and that it can be more expensive than residential care and who went on to say that, despite warnings, the expectation was that some councils would continue to follow this model.

So Ceredigion currently ploughs on with its intention to promote Extra Care housing over residential care. The fact that the Cylch Caron development was announced in 2009 and remains an empty field behind a car park in Tregaron surely must be telling even Ceredigion Social Services that something is wrong.

Is there any possibility at all that within the corridors of power in Aberaeron the penny could finally drop and that the expedient move would have been to delay the closure of Bodlondeb until the alternatives are in place? Unless, of course, the guiding hand of PwC can still be gently felt on the tiller at Penmorfa.

But this pause does present the opportunity for Social Services and the council to stop, take stock and decide against placing all their older people’s care provision in one precarious basket.

There may be a concern that shelving plans for Cylch Caron may lead to a considerable loss of face. However, the current moment presents an opportune time to risk embarrassment as, for many residents of Ceredigion, confidence in the leadership of the council and Social Services is at an all time low.

Yours etc,

George Holloway, Save Bodlondeb Steering Group, Waunfawr, Aberystwyth.

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