CUTS to spending on support for the elderly could see a day care centre close.

Proposals being reviewed by Lancashire County Council would see Oakview Day Centre in Clayton-le-Moors shut down.

The closure of the site is part of plans that would save £330,000 per year by axing 14 managers posts at each of Lancashire County Council’s Commercial Group and replacing the jobs with one senior manager post.

Lancashire’s other centres will remain open, with officers at each to report to the new senior manager.

If approved, the changes will be implemented in March.

The council said that the proposal to close Oakview came as the centre was underused with only seven users each day at a site with a capacity for 20.

However Hyndburn mayor Collette McCormack, who is also the borough’s older people’s champion, said there were not enough facilities to suport the borough’s elderly.

She said: “We keep cutting at the elderly over and over again. Other centres and groups who help older people are overstretched so if this centre was under-used they can’t have promoted it very well.”

The centre in Warwick Avenue is equipped with a range of aids and adaptations for those experiencing dementia from Monday to Saturday 9am to 4pm.

Those who use the centre are encouraged to maintain everyday skills and independence with activities which include playing board games and craft work including knitting and sewing.

People who use the centre will be relocated to services at Woodhaven Day Centre in Accrington two miles away.

Nigel Finnamore, director of Lancashire County Council's Commercial group, said they were consulting on the proposals to close.

He said: “We are also making wider changes across our day care services and by a reallocation of duties and responsibilities, we will save around £330,000 per annum.”