The near two-year battle to keep Dundee’s Kemback Street Adult Resource Centre open has come to an end as the action group set up to oppose the closure has dropped its challenge.
At the group’s latest meeting, family members and carers decided not to proceed with further legal action to prevent the closure at the end of the month.
An earlier legal challenge by the group forced Dundee City Council to carry out a new consultation on the centre’s future.
In September, councillors voted by 15 to 10 to shut the doors on the centre and transfer the existing users to alternative support services.
On Monday, the council’s convener of social work and health, Ken Lynn, said he hoped to continue working with centre users and their family’s to ensure a “positive working relationship” as they move to alternative support.
The action group last night said their decision not to proceed with further legal action was taken because it could have caused considerable further delay which would not have been good for the service users.
George Stewart from the group said: “At the outset we said that closing Kemback Street was an act of vandalism and we are still of the same view.
“The real reason for closing the centre was to save money and had very little to do with the personalisation of services.”
Mr Stewart added that Mr Lynn had previously stated that by closing the building £459,000 would be saved.
Mr Stewart also pointed to charity In Control which works with vulnerable people, including those with learning disabilities.
“It has found that some senior managers in councils use personalisation as a cover to cut services,” he said.
“In an article a spokesman for the organisation stated: ‘The worst thing for personalisation is that it is used as an excuse to cut services. Personalisation is about choice.’ This statement could be applied to Dundee City Council.”
Dundee-based MSP Jenny Marra campaigned alongside the action group.
She said: “We decided to end our campaign to keep Kemback Street open because we didn’t want to put service users through another consultation.
“I feel that we eventually made the SNP listen to service users and their families although the SNP still voted to close the centre.
“Hopefully in the future the SNP council will think twice about ignoring their democratic and legal duty to listen to people before they shut down services.
“In that respect, we have won the right to be heard by the SNP council, and that is important, although it shouldn’t have been a battle we had to fight in the first place.”
The centre will finally close on Friday of next week.
Mr Lynn said: “Over recent weeks people who use the services at Kemback Street Adult Resource Centre and their carers have been closely involved in planning alternative support and many have already made a positive move.
“We would hope to continue to have a positive working relationship with carers through to the conclusion of this process and into the future.”
Despite the closure, the action group has vowed to keep going.
Mr Stewart said: “Since we do not believe that this will be the last of cuts to the services to people with learning disabilities, it was decided that the group would remain in existence.
“Indeed, we would like to invite carers and family members of service users throughout the city to be become involved.”