An SNP councillor in Fife will be “seriously disappointed” if the local authority ends up spending £16 million on two new care homes.
David Torrance, who is vice-chairman of the social work and health committee, hailed the SNP/Lib Dem administration’s willingness to see the council remain a direct provider of residential care services earlier this week despite continuing pressure on it to close its 10 care homes and move residents into the private and voluntary sectors.
But Mr Torrance believes the estimated price tag for the first two new homes being built as part of the authority’s £40 million care home replacement programme is excessive.
Planning consent has been granted for a 48-bed home north of Ostlers Way in Kirkcaldy and a 32-bed home on former school grounds at Dunfermline’s Blacklaw Road replacing Appin House and Raith Gates in Kirkcaldy and the Matthew Fyfe facility in Dunfermline.
Mr Torrance said, “The price that we’ve been quoted is over-inflated and I will be seriously disappointed if we can’t get them for cheaper. Companies out there are dying to build and it is a competitive market we should be able to get these care homes for much less than £16 million.”
Mr Torrance’s comments appear to echo those of opposition Labour leader Alex Rowley, who has called on the council to examine the cost of residential provision in the public sector compared to the private and independent sectors.
Mr Rowley suggested a state-of-the-art private care home had been built for £3.2 million in his ward recently and questioned why the council’s estimates of £8 million per home were so high. The Labour group leader also called on the council to appoint a firm specialising in care home design and construction to give detailed costings for 10 replacement homes which could be catered for in a £40 million budget.
“If you look to the private sector and homes being built, there are none of them costing £8 million,” he said. “We should be able to build these homes at a much reduced cost.”
He also hit back at accusations from the SNP/Lib Dem contingent that Labour was “scaremongering” over the issue, claiming the risk of the council’s seven remaining homes closing remained “clear as day.”
He added, “We’re going to have people in these homes wondering where they are going to be next Christmas that’s not scaremongering, that’s a fact.
“As for the staff, these are hard working, decent people that have given a lifetime of commitment to the council in these homes and I would suggest they deserve better.”
Photo by Flickr user ell brown.