CEREDIGION County Council’s Cabinet has been compared to a “rogue landlord” after unanimously voting to push ahead with the closure of the Bodlondeb care home.

Despite opposition from a packed public gallery and pleas from back-bench councillors for a final decision to be made by the full council, the eight members of the Cabinet backed a recommendation that the home should close by the end of March next year.

While that decision has been called in by councillors unhappy with the decision, there was criticism of the Cabinet, especially of Plaid Cymru Cabinet members who had supported keeping the home open in 2011 only to now support closure.

Plaid councillor Alun Lloyd Jones said he still opposed the closure and questioned if Cabinet members supported closing a home and forcing elderly residents to leave their home.

He said: “Bodlondeb is a home, not bricks and mortar.

“We are effectively making the vulnerable residents homeless by moving them against their will.

“This is what rogue landlords do and we pursue and prosecute them. What is the difference between that and what we are doing?”

With angry opposition from the public gallery, Cabinet members said they could not justify keeping the home open and pleaded with the public to understand the decision, blaming it on new regulations and funding cuts and falling back on the hope that a potential new extra care facility will go ahead despite no plan or funding currently being in place.

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