COUNCILLORS are being urged to reconsider plans to close four nursing homes.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is proposing to replace the homes with two extra care housing facilities, which enable people to live in their own homes longer, and two specialist dementia homes.

The council is confident the 30 residents occupying the four homes will be easily accommodated in the private sector, which has nearly 1,000 beds across the borough.

But the borough’s MPs – Redcar’s Vera Baird and Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland’s Ashok Kumar – are calling on the council to rethinks its plans.

The controversial proposal comes days after Durham County Council infuriated residents when it launched a consultation process on proposals to close seven of its 12 care homes.

In a letter to the council’s leader, George Dunning, they criticise the authority for basing their findings on a “flimsy”

document and leaving councillors with limited choices.

The pair say: “While we recognise that much work has been going on behind the scenes, we are both disappointed that the group took a decision based on such a slim document, which, if the pictures were stripped out, would barely cover a sheet of A4.

“We are concerned that as the paper stood it merely took members to two conclusions that are both posited on closure options.”

The four homes earmarked for closure are:

■ Luke Senior House, in Park Lane, Guisborough;

■ Kiltondale, Newbury Road, Brotton;

■ Wheatacres, Low Farm Drive, Redcar;

■ The Meadows, Allendale Road, Spencerbeck, Ormesby.

The four care homes have a £1m maintenance backlog. To bring them up to standard would cost more than £8m.

Councillor Helen McLuckie, the council’s cabinet member for health and social well being, said: “When we developed our Ageing Well Strategy last year people were very vocal about their desire to stay at home and remain independent for as long as possible, with a much greater choice of accommodation.

“Our plans incorporate these views, but we also recognise that we need to commission additional specialist dementia care facilities for people who may need that kind of support at a much later stage of their life.”

The council’s cabinet will meet on Tuesday, February 2 to make a decision on the proposals.