Fears for future of adult care service in Bridgnorth after Shropshire Council move

John Ellis, whose son is severely disabled, and Derek Moorhouse, secretary of Bridgnorth Mencap, say they fear for the future of services in Bridgnorth following the council's decision.

Councillor Lee Chapman, Shropshire Council's cabinet member for adult services, approved plans on Tuesday that would see services at Oak Farm in Ditton Priors and Innage Lane taken over by new private providers from January.

The plans could also see the current Innage Lane day service moved to the youth centre building across the road.

Mr Ellis claimed the youth centre was not fit for purpose and the parents and carers of people who attended Innage Lane had suffered more than five months of extreme stress and misery during the consultation period.

He said: "Now the consultation period has finished we know the council intends to find a new service provider for Innage Lane and Oak Farm. But they have not got a clue who that will be or how long it will take.

"Our misery and uncertainty will go on and on because the council needs to make massive refurbishment changes to the youth centre.

"I imagine the council will not be willing to meet anything like the costs involved."

Shropshire Council, under the terms of the new arrangement, will carry out an assessment to see if work can be carried out at the youth centre to bring it up to the same standard as Innage Lane.

It will also look at transferring ownership of the youth centre to Bridgnorth Town Council.

Mr Moorhouse said: "

Decisions have been made in secret and this farce is a result of working in secrecy without local input from parents, carers, centre users or even local councillors. Uncertainty is now extended for a further unspecified period, which at the rate our council works may be years."

Councillor Chapman, speaking during Tuesday's cabinet meeting, said: "I am confident our process for commissioning new providers is strong enough to make sure we will get a very good provider but of course we won't know that until we start the process in January.

"The main push for the whole proposal at the youth centre and the land around it is that 17 of the people who access those day services at Oak Farm and Innage Lane are in their 40s, and that means their parents and carers are getting quite elderly."