Issue - meetings

To consider the Call In of the above decision.

Mark Nedderman, Senior Scrutiny Officer, outlined the procedure for the Call In of the decision of Cabinet made on 5 March 2012 relating to the permanent closure of Bexton Court.

On behalf of the eight Members who had signed the Call In, Councillor D Brickhill addressed the Committee and outlined the reasons for the Call In.

Firstly, he stated that the Council had not entered into a full consultation over the permanent closure of Bexton Court as the most recent consultation had given the impression that the facility would remain closed only on a temporary basis. Councillor Brickhill made reference to a consultation which had been carried out in 2007 by Cheshire County Council but he contended that this was too historic to be deemed relevant.

Councillor Brickhill added that:

·         The Call In meeting should have been held in Knutsford as to give local residents a chance to address the Committee.

·         If Bexton Court was permanently closed, it would leave the residents of Knutsford with no alternative for the services formerly provided. This was in contrast to a similar situation in Crewe in which the services once provided in the closing Santune House were picked up in an alternative facility (Lincoln House).

·         As Bexton Court had only been recently refurbished by Cheshire County Council and as it had been continued to be partly funded by the NHS in its temporary closure, it would prove to be a waste of public money to permanently close the facility. 

Councillor Clowes, on behalf of the Cabinet explained the reasons for the decision, outlining that she would deal with the issue of whether the decision to permanently close Bexton Court was made within the context of proper consultation.

Councillor Clowes continued to respond to a number of points that had been made in the Call In Notice (Item 5: appendix 1):

·         Regarding the assertion that there had been ‘no consultation [in terms of the permanent closure of Bexton Court]’, Councillor Clowes made reference to the ‘Improvements to Adult Social Care Consultation Report’ in appendix 2 of item 5, which documented and provided evidence of all of the consultation processes since September 2011. Additionally, she noted that the Council had given close regard to the best practice guide on consultation process from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The Council had made additional steps to make contact with former service users of Bexton Court and their family/carers with extra letters, telephone calls and drop in sessions once it had been realised that they had not attended the public meetings.

·         It had been asserted that the purported lack of consultation was unlawful. Councillor Clowes stated there was no statutory requirement to consult.

·         Councillor Clowes stated that the claim that there was no alternative provision for the services once provided in Bexton Court was misleading. Bexton Court had been used as a Dementia assessment and respite centre with the actual provision of dementia care available elsewhere. This provision was still available through the market and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63