A RESPITE centre in Chippenham has been forced to close by Wiltshire Council after cabinet members agreed that it was no longer needed.

Derriads Lane Respite, which looks after four people at one time, will shut by the end of July after a report looking into the centre revealed that more people were using the direct payment scheme and not using the respite centres themselves.

The centre is one of four respite centres in the county, and one of two in Chippenham, and despite consulting 240 patients and their families on their proposed closure, only 20 responded.

"We have 865 people with learning diabilities in this county and 120 of those access these services at a cost of just short of £2million," Councillor Jerry Wickham said at County Hall on Tuesday.

"Derriads Lane is essentially two conjoined bungalows, and although it is a nice site, it is not fit for purpose moving forward.

"There are minimal changes we can make to that building and we cannot get away from the fact that we need to make efficiencies to save on our budget.

"I want to be clear though that the reason we are closing Derriads is not due to our budget, but due to the fact that the service usage is down."

Patients who use Derriads Lane will now be offered places at Meadow Lodge in Chippenham or Bradbury Manor in Devizes, but Councillor Ian Thorn, leader of the Liberal Democrats, argued that the closure was not helping vulnerable people.

"This seems like Groundhog day, especially considering the decision to close Braeside and Oxenwood, where you run a service down and people don't use it, so you close it," he said.

"In the report it says that the recommendation for closure aligns with the Council’s Business Plan priority of protecting those who are most vulnerable, which is most extraordinary because how it closing this service protecting them?"