A COUNCIL is pressing ahead with plans to close five residential homes for the elderly in Darlington.

Darlington Borough Council has decided the closure of the homes is necessary because it cannot afford the £4.5m needed to bring them up to standard.

It will see the 120 elderly people currently living in the homes being transferred to private sector accommodation.

And the decision will also impact on the 125 local authority staff who work at the council-run homes.

Some will be given other jobs within the council, but others are faced with the prospect of early retirement or redundancy - either voluntary or compulsory.

Following a lengthy consultation exercise, Darlington council's social services department is recommending that councillors approve the closure of the five homes - Moorcroft, Gladstone Hall, Neville House, The Lawns and Westfields House.

The authority has taken the decision because it says none of the homes would meet new Government guidelines on council-owned residential properties.

Legislation coming into effect in April 2002 demands that local authority homes, previously immune from inspection, either modernise or face being closed down.

Darlington council says its homes would require £4.5m to bring up to standard and that this is money it cannot afford.

It is hoping to minimise the effects on residents by staggering the closures and giving pensioners the option to move with their friends to private sector homes.

Darlington Borough Council's director of social services, Colin Morris, said: "There will be no extra cost involved and this is not something which will happen overnight.

"I believe the short-term pain it will cause will actually be worthwhile in the long-term because people will be moving into an environment which is more attractive and nicer to live in."

But the closure proposals have not met with universal approval in Darlington.

Conservative councillor Eric Roberts said: "These are people's homes and not just buildings and there is no question that the closures will cause a great deal of distress for the residents."

Unions representing staff at the homes have also criticised the council for pressing ahead with the closures with "undue haste".