INDEPENDENT care home owners have sparked a row by claiming a controversial decision to axe five old people's complexes in the region was justified.

Darlington Borough Council agreed this week that all its residential homes should close because it cannot afford the £4.5m needed to upgrade them.

This will lead to more than 100 staff losing their jobs and a similar number of elderly people having to move.

Operators of independent residential care homes have backed the move, claiming that the facilities they provide are superior.

However, union bosses, who represent the care workers, have hit back accusing the private operators of "revelling in a business opportunity".

Joan Parsons, business development manager at the Trees Park Village care complex at Middleton-St-George, near Darlington, said: "The council should be congratulated for taking this stand.

"It is only right that residents should be given the benefit of more modern facilities to live in.

"The independent sector is keen to work very closely with the local authority to ensure that all the residents are given full support in the choice of their home. They will be welcomed very quickly into existing communities."

Maureen Horton, chairman of the Independent Sector Provider Group in Darlington, said the £1m saved by the closures could be spent on other old people's services such as day care and cheap travel.

She said: "Over the past 30 years legislation controlling care homes has been tightened. This has ensured that all providers in the voluntary and private sectors have had to spend large sums on upgrading premises.

"Because local authority homes have not previously been covered by that legislation, they did not need to invest in their properties.

"Not surprisingly, the facilities are therefore greatly inferior to the other homes in the town."

But Alan Docherty, of Unison, said: "This is revelling in the fact that there is a business opportunity here.

"The new standards apply equally to the private sector and they will have problems adapting their premises as well."

Darlington council plans to phase the closures over the next two years and says it aims to find new jobs for those staff who want to continue to work for the authority. It has also offered to pay the costs for residents and relatives to view other homes in the town