Judge rules care homes can close

Frail and elderly residents of three Coventry care homes threatened with closure have lost their High Court bid to keep them open.

Council-run old people's homes Jack Ball House, George Rowley House and Hawthorn Lodge will close after a judge backed Coventry City Council's plans.

Judge Mark Pelling QC dismissed the judicial review challenge by solicitor Yvonne Hossack on Thursday.

She had claimed that residents' lives would be put in jeopardy by the move.

'Reasonable and lawful'

"This is human life and human life is at risk," she told the BBC.

Relatives said they were happy with the new assurances made in court by the council that each resident would be individually assessed by a mental health nurse before any closures or transferring of residents took place.

Lynda Bull, the council's acting director of community services, said: "We are pleased with the outcome of the hearing and the court's acknowledgement that our decision was reasonable and lawful."

Under the proposals Jack Ball House and George Rowley House, which house dementia residents, will close on December 2, 2008, and Hawthorn Lodge, which cares for the elderly, will close on September 1, 2009.