FOUR of Blackpool's eight council-run rest homes threatened with closure will be saved after the council made a last-minute U-turn yesterday (September 6).

But the decision has been met with mixed feelings and some say the fight to save all the homes will continue.

Staff, residents and relatives wept with joy as they were told of the latest proposals by Blackpool Borough Council's executive member for social services Coun Sue Wright, after scenes of protest like the one pictured here.

If they get the go ahead at a full committee meeting on October 18, it will mean Warren Manor, Kipling Manor, Whitegate Manor and Low Moor Manor will close. Other plans include:

CHANGING Hoyle House to cater for special needs

CHANGING Stratford House to cater people with mental health problems

KEEPING Cherry Tree House and Ashfield House as council-run homes for the elderly

REVIEWING management and staffing structures

SELLING Low Moor Manor site to Trinity, the Hospice in the Fylde. But carers at the homes are angry at the way the whole issue has been dealt with.

Carol Price, a carer at Warren Manor, feels particularly let down by social services director Steve Pullen.

She said: "Steve Pullen told the committee at the meeting that he had consulted all the staff throughout their investigations, but none of us have been spoken to. Nobody I know has been included or consulted in any way. We feel very angry and let down." CARE chairman Maureen Horn said she was pleased that the council seemed to have taken notice of what the group said at two previous meetings.

She said: "I am pleased the council seemed to have listened. I am happy for the people in the four homes they are keeping open, but we must still fight for the others. We are not giving up."

UNISON's Tony Garnsey met with Labour leader George Bancroft on Tuesday afternoon (September 5) to discuss a plan to take over the homes as a co-operative with the help of the Co-operative Development Agency and the Co-operative Bank.

He has until the full council meeting on October 18 to put an action plan together which, if successful, will mean all the homes will be saved.

He said: "While I am happy for those in the homes which will remain open, we still have to fight for the other four and the co-operative plan could be the answer."

A statement from the Liberal Democrats welcomed the compromise but expressed concern about the council's star rating system for grading the homes and called for an independent inspection.

Labour MP for Blackpool South Gordon Marsden also welcomed the decision saying: "This is a positive step forward and leaves the door open for other ideas to ensure a future for the other homes, which I will be closely monitoring."