THE battle to keep the Bodlondeb care home open has finally been lost after an 11th-hour bid to save it from closure failed.

The Cambrian News was the only newspaper present at Monday’s crunch meeting in Aberaeron.

The Cabinet decision to close the home by the end of March next year had been called in by councillors unhappy that closing the home now would leave Aberystwyth without any council-run care home and insisting that all 42 councillors should be involved in making a decision about the future of the facility.

But despite concerns being raised by several councillors, nine members of the healthier communities scrutiny committee voted to accept the Cabinet decision, winning the vote by nine votes to seven.

Cllr Alun Lloyd Jones, the chair of the scrutiny committee was one of the six councillors who called the decision in.

He said: “Residents should know their future home would be in the Aberystwyth area and not some far flung place.”

Cllr Lyndon Lloyd added: “From the feeling I get around the county, this decision of Cabinet possibly does not reflect the feelings of the county for the future of care and our residential homes.”

But despite arguments from the six councillors, other members of the committee insisted that the Cabinet decision should be accepted and said that keeping Bodlondeb open could lead to resources being lost from other services.

There were cries from campaigners at the end of the meeting that councillors who voted to back the closure should be ashamed of themselves.

See tomorrow’s Cambrian News for full report and reaction