SOCIAL Services bosses yesterday admitted they had made mistakes in their handling of the imminent closure of a residential home, after being criticised by councillors.

Following a presentation made during a meeting of Teesdale District Council, members criticised Durham County Council's Social Services Department for keeping them in the dark over the closure of Stoneleigh, in Barnard Castle.

The care home will be closed in September and demolished to make way for a new unit which will be designed to give residents greater independence.

The county council was due to close Stoneleigh in 2004, but it could not find an alternative site in the town and has been forced to build on the existing site.

Residents will be moved to temporary care homes elsewhere in the county while the new development is built.

Malcolm Haddick, operations manager for Durham Social Services, was accused by members of mishandling the issue and not keeping councillors or relatives up to date.

District councillor Newton Wood said: "The relatives of residents were so concerned about its closure and the effect it could have on the elderly people living at Stoneleigh, that they formed an action group to fight its closure.

"They are even pursuing legal action. It has caused a massive rift because you haven't handled this well.

"These are our people and we feel that you didn't let this authority know early enough, and that is why we have this major problem. I hope issues like this are handled better in the future."

Mr Haddick said that he would be meeting members of the Stoneleigh Action Group to discuss the situation regarding its closure later this week. He agreed that the county council could have kept district councillors better informed.

Mr Haddick said: "We haven't handled it very well with regards to communication, although all the residents have been kept up-to-date. The only issue that changed was the fact that the date of its closure had been brought forward, and we have explained that.

"Either way, the new Government standards regarding care homes means that we are going to have to move people out. The standards dictate that Stoneleigh will have to close. They have decided to take legal action and we'll just have to deal with that, and our legal officers have looked at the matter."