by Simon Tulett

stulett@thekmgroup.co.uk

A consultation on plans to close care homes may have withheld key information about the proposal and given too little weight to alternatives.

That’s the concern of some councillors, who have called in the Audit Commission to analyse the decision by social services chiefs to close or sell off 11 homes across the county.

Members of Kent County Council’s cabinet scrutiny committee, which has reviewed the final verdict, believe residents and their families should have been given more information about the finances behind the proposal.

In the meeting it emerged that even before the consultation began the council had secured government approval for a £75 million private finance initiative (PFI) scheme to build extra care facilities for older people on five sites in the county.

Three of these involved land occupied by care homes now set to be axed and replaced with new homes, including Manorbrooke, in Bevis Close, Dartford.

KCC says its bid for the cash did not automatically mean it would go ahead with the care home closures, and that the PFI scheme would have found alternative land if councillors rejected bulldozing existing homes.

But Cllr Trudy Dean (LibDem), who chairs the scrutiny committee, said: “It’s clear members of the council and the public weren’t given the proper information. It leads me to consider whether the consultation was wholly honest.”

The council has already been told to expect a Judicial Review over its plans for one Kent care home - Bowles Lodge, in Hawkhurst.

Cllr Dean’s committee has also raised concerns that alternatives and arguments put forward by campaigners may not have been given due attention.

Those bidding to save The Limes, in Brent Lane, Dartford, debated its proposed closure at county hall after handing in a petition with more than 7,000 names.

Campaigner Laura Whitehead, who argued the closure of the recuperative facility would put extra pressure on Darent Valley Hospital, said: “The day centre users are distraught. They have nowhere to go and feel they have not been listened to, along with 26,000 other people.

“It’s a tragic situation to have all our questions and concerns go unanswered.”

Although the Audit Commission can review the consultation process, it has no power to overturn the decision.