THREE care homes for the elderly earmarked for the chop have been spared by county hall bosses -- but a further 32 are still to close.

After six months of protest and opposition from people across the county, Lancashire County Council has drawn up new plans for its 48 care homes.

Initially, it had planned to close 35 homes -- 19 of which were in East Lancashire -- and keep 13 open. There would have been one in each East Lancashire borough.

But now it has decided to keep three of the homes on the hitlist open for at least four years.

The homes spared include Lower Ridge Home in Burnley and Cravenside in Pendle.

None of the homes earmarked for the chop in Rossendale, Hyndburn, Chorley or the Ribble Valley have been granted a reprieve, despite fierce opposition from residents, families, staff, councillors and MPs.

The announcement was branded as a public relations exercise by the leader of the Liberal Democrat group Coun David Whipp.

He said: "We are looking at 32 closures instead of 35, and I can't see how they can claim that they have listened to the public.

"They are basically forcing through the bulk of the original plan which goes against everything said to them in the consultation."

And Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said that the decision should be reconsidered as Health Secretary Alan Milburn has relaxed regulations.

The Labour back bencher said: "I welcome the changes but I don't think they are enough. I want the county council to go further.

" I shall be speaking to all Hyndburn's county councillors about this including the authority's deputy leader Doreen Pollitt and then contacting leader of the county Hazel Harding and social security chief Chris Cheetham."

Sixteen of the homes which will close are expected to re-open providing new facilities for elderly people, such as respite care or day care facilities. They would be operated by the county council in partnership with other organisations, such as housing associations or borough councils.

But another 16 will close and be sold off to help pay for the refurbishment and improvement of the homes which will remain open.

Twelve of the original 13 earmarked to remain open and be refurbished will be kept by the county council. A 60-place home will be built in Preston which will then be used as an example for the redevelopment of other county council care homes.

County councillor Chris Cheetham, the man who has drafted the plans, today insisted the authority had listened to the thousands of objections and had tried to accommodate suggestions.

But he added that the government still wanted more people to be cared for in their own homes in the future and that the money for such domiciliary care had to come from somewhere.

He said the authority would be spending an extra £3million to make sure all residents already in LCC homes would remain.

"The original proposal always envisaged that no existing resident would be forced to leave residential care. The revised proposals would also give all existing residents the ability to remain in a county council-run home.

"This would cost the council in the order of £3million and mean that the changes would be phased in over an estimated two-and-a-half years."

No start date on the closures has yet been announced.

The decision to build the new home in Preston and keep three others open for another four years means that the county council will provide 778 places in 17 residential homes,. The original plan was to provide 475 long-term places and 150 short-stay respite care.

In the future, the county council homes will be used mainly for people suffering dementia.

Senior council staff were informed of the plans at 8am this morning. They were to brief staff at 11am.

MPs and councillors were shown the plans at 9.30am.

The cabinet of Lancashire County Council will discuss the plans on August 1 before a shorter consultation period begins.

People have until August 23 to get their comments in. It will be reviewed on September 12 by the cabinet, who will place a final set of recommendations before the full council on September 26.

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