Petition lodged over plans to close disabled centre - Centre for Independent Living is a 'safety net', say campaign group SOS Westminster
Published: 10 December 2010
by JOSH LOEB
ACTIVISTS are planning to march to City Hall in protest at proposals to close a “safety net” centre for disabled people.
A petition against the closure of the Centre for Independent Living in Westbourne Park Road has been launched by campaign group SOS Westminster, who say the centre – which has a hydrotherapy pool and offers legal advice and art classes – provides a “social outlet” for hundreds of vulnerable adults.
Westminster City Council’s public consultation on the plans came to an end this week, and social care chiefs insist they have not yet made up their minds on whether to press ahead with closure.
But SOS Westminster chairwoman Janet Marks said she was concerned that a planned £2million cut to the social care budget would be catastrophic for deaf and blind residents and those with physical disabilities.
She said: “What we are arguing is that if a large percentage of the people who use this centre are going to lose their care packages as well as the centre where they go and get help, that is unreasonable. It’s too much of a blow all at once. The people I work with are actually the people who can’t speak for themselves – people who have suffered head injury and whose language is affected.”
Under the proposals, the centre would be set aside for use mainly by people suffering from dementia.
Ms Marks, who runs weekly drama classes there, said: “It seems perverse to remove a centre which was purpose built for people with specific medical requirements and hand it over to another group of people who have genuine needs – we don’t deny they have genuine needs, but they don’t need a centre that has been purpose built for people with physical and sensory disabilities.”
SOS Westminster secretary Diane Yeo said: “The life of my own daughter has been transformed thanks to the centre since we first learned of it when she needed hydrotherapy following her brain tumour. It would be a tragedy if other youngsters were denied the same opportunity.”
Charity Training for Life’s contract to run the centre comes to an end early next year and the council has indicated that it will announce its decision in January.
Westminster Labour group leader Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg said: “The campaign that has built up opposing this closure is testament to the value that the community places on the work done at this centre.”
Cllr Daniel Astaire, cabinet member for society, families and adult services, said: “Given the current economic climate, reductions in public sector funding and increased demand for adult social care services our current levels of spending are simply not sustainable.
“As a result we are going to have to make some tough decisions about how we are providing services in order to ensure we can continue to deliver first class services to those who need them most.
“However, I would like to stress that no decisions have been made and we will now review all of the feedback received from the consultation to help us make the right decisions on the future of adult social care in Westminster.”