Closure could risk lives - MP

Batley and Spen MP Mike Wood spoke in Parliament about the plight of residents at Barnfield sheltered housing complex in Batley Carr.

Owner Anchor announced in August that it may close Barnfield due to the cost of refurbishing the 32-year-old building.

The charity said the site, in Beckett Road, could be taken over by a new landlord with tenants in place, or closed and residents moved to other accommodation.

Residents and local clergy have protested against Anchor’s announcement, and now Mr Wood has told MPs that some care providers have ‘lost sight of whom they operate to serve’.

He said: “The truth is that Anchor wishes to wash its hands of the establishment and, by definition, of my 51 constituents.”

Anchor bosses said they were saddened to hear of Mr Wood’s comments.

Mr Wood said figures showed that Barnfield was financially self-sustaining.

He said: “We must ask, therefore, why a charity and the largest social landlord in the country should treat its residents – including some who suffer from mental health problems – in such a fashion, putting their well-being and perhaps even their life chances at risk.”

Mr Wood also praised the Dewsbury Reporter.

He said: “Many questions need answering, some of which were put in a hard-hitting article by our campaigning local newspaper, the Dewsbury Reporter, not least of which was, where has the money paid in rents and service charges over 31 years gone?”

The MP also called for increased regulation to monitor such charities’ work.

In response, an Anchor spokesman said: “We were saddened by Mr Wood’s comments.

“We do not agree with his interpretation of that information or his conclusions about the scheme’s viability.

“We have consulted fully with our customers at Barnfield and are entirely focused on transferring the scheme to a new landlord.”