THE ongoing twists and turns of the Re:d Centre saga continue to shock and dismay by turn.

No doubt like many I was pleased and relieved to read Bury MBC chief executive, Mark Sanders' statement announcing that care packages would not now be cut.

Whilst I welcome this U-turn my heart goes out to the families that have been affected by this. First they are told they will lose 25 per cent of their previously assessed care needs, then they find it may be substantially more.

As a result of the outcry that follows the council "find" £100,000 of savings from the Re:d Centre assuring that no one will suffer more than 25 per cent cuts.Then following a ruling in the High Court the council backtracks completely.

The distress this shambles must have caused users and their families can only be imagined. It is an utter disgrace that this council has managed to treat some of the most vulnerable of its residents in this way over the past year.

The only decent, sensible and humane way forward now would be to for the council to accept the verdict of its own healthier & safer communities scrutiny committee. That, after an in depth examination of the Re:d Centre, concluded that it should be maintained and it was a first class facility for Bury residents that had always kept to its budget. In so doing the council should not seek to contest further legal action leading to yet more distress.

Secondly those areas of the social services budget that have been overspending should be examined in depth.

And thirdly, there surely needs to be a root and branch, top to bottom review of the whole social sServices budget.

This cannot go on, if the department starts overspending again this year what or who will be next to visit the High Court? At what point does the council accept that this is a mess, that this is not about money but about people, that this is about quality of life?

Please lets start a sensible discussion about future provision of services for the cared for young or old.

COUN Vic D'Albert

Liberal Democrat