CIVIC bosses face a legal battle as campaigners ramp up the pressure to save a respite centre threatened with the axe in Southampton.

Kentish Road respite centre in Shirley is earmarked for closure as the city council tries to save cash.

Campaigners have continued their fight to force a u-turn on the plans which they say will leave many families and children without any place for those with learning difficulties and special needs to go.

More than 40 people including users of the centre held a protest in Southampton city centre on Saturday.

The vocal demonstration started at The Bargate.

Protesters then walked through the High Street and finished their march outside Southampton Civic Centre.

They chanted “disabled lives matter” and “save Kentish Road”, and handed out papers to the public about the plans in a bid to gather support.

Southampton City Council say they want to cut the the centre in a bid to move to a more ‘cost effective and personalised’ care service.

It is understood that the plans will put 11 jobs at risks and could save £300,000 a year.

Campaigners say the proposal could be halted by a legal action.

One mother who has an adult daughter with learning disabilities has instructed specialist pubic law solicitors over the closure.

They will investigate whether there are grounds for a judicial review of her local council’s decision to close a respite care centre.

But council chiefs say that this action will not succeed.

The mother, who has only been identified as AG for legal reasons, is a full-timer carer to her daughter, VM, who has learning disabilities.

A statement from her legal team says the mum has regularly used the Kentish Road respite centre in Southampton, which provides respite services for adults with learning disabilities to prevent families reaching breaking point and enabling them to stay living together.

The statement added that AG, and other parents who use the respite centre, have expressed their disappointment at this decision through demonstrations and protests and now AG has instructed expert solicitors at Irwin Mitchell on behalf of her daughter to establish whether there are ground for a judicial review.

Alice Cullingworth, a solicitor and the public law and human rights specialist representing VM, said: “We have been instructed to establish whether there are grounds for a judicial review of Southampton Council’s decision to close the Kentish Road respite centre.

“The centre offers critical support to not only those people with learning disabilities who use it but also their family.

“It enables the carers within the family to take a break from having to be the only source of care for their loved ones.

“We intend to look into the concerns of the centre’s users regarding how the decision to close it was reached and also at how the council’s decision has already affected those who use the centre.”

Other people concerned by the plans include Gerry Smyth, 61, from Shirley, whose daughter Poppy, 25, has Down’s syndrome.

Mr Smyth said: “It has been very important to have Kentish Road, Poppy mixes with other service users and has made friends.

“ It has taken her quite a while to get used to going there and now they are going to close it, it is devastating.”

But Southampton City Council cabinet member for adult care, Cllr Warwick Payne, inset pictured, defended the authority’s decision.

He also said he believed there were no grounds for a judicial review because the decision was proposed more than a year ago.

Cllr Payne said: “You can’t do a judicial review if the decision is more than 12 months old.

“We are offering a range of alternatives to all the carers and clients that use Kentish Road and the vast majority has accepted alternatives and we are down to the last few families.

“We are happy to work one for one with those families to understand why they are not accepting any of the alternatives being put forward.

“We are not stopping anyone’s care packages or stopping them from having access to respite, we are merely looking to deliver respite care by other alternatives.”

Case study

Lisa Stead’s son Harrison is a regular user of Kentish Road respite centre.

She says it is vital to the 21-year-old who has severe learning difficulties.

Lisa, 47, from Bevois Valley, said: “It is outrageous the council want to absolve responsibility and put it into the private sector. They have a responsibility and a duty of care as much as we parents do.

“All that we as parents ask is to have that solid support from the local authority and to have a respite centre which is scrutinised so we know our children and young adults are in the right care provision.”

Lisa, who is a full time carer for her son, added: “Nowhere replaces it. They are all there in a big group setting. You can see they all love it there and it is essential that parents have a break. If it goes for me it would impact our family life because I don’t have a support network.”