Barnhaven's future

Devon County Council are reviewing the future of four residential care homes in the county, one of which is Barnhaven in Bampton. After two public meetings it is now clear that Devon County Council Social Services have decided to withdraw from running residential care homes.They have suggested only two options for Barnhaven - either re-develop the home with a “third party”or close the home and sell the site.

The Barnhaven Development Plan Forum has now been established and is in contact with the Director of Social Services. The aim of the Forum is to work with Devon CC and/or a third party to maintain Barnhaven as a residential care home as well as developing further Community Care Resource facilities.

The Forum of itself is unelected but is made up of the Chairpersons of twelve Parish Councils, representatives of Bampton Town Council, two Mid Devon District Councillors and a number of other individuals whose professional qualifications and expertise have already proved invaluable in our aims.

The Forum could gain strength from the support and approval of the wider community in their approach to Devon CC and we have organised a petition which is to be submitted to Parliament.

Representatives of Bampton, Stoodleigh, Oakford, Morebath, Washfield and Mid Devon District and Devon County Councils, Age Concern and Barnhaven Management met with Mr Sam Newman the programme director for Devon CC Social Care on 12th March. As is now well known Shaw HealthCare will take over all of Devon CC social care provision later this year possibly in May. In the short term all arrangements for the staff and the residents they so wonderfully look after remain unchanged. However the long term future of Barnhaven as a residential facility and out reach centre remains undecided. Mr Newman was left in no doubt that this community DOES NOT concede the inevitability of closure and he has been charged with returning to a future meeting in April with answers to some specific questions as follows:

To request from Shaw an explanation as to why the Development Plan proposals first submitted to DCC seem to have been disregarded.

To again request from them why their initially proposed 40 bed facility for the area seems to have been withdrawn.

To explore with Mid Devon DC other options available combining sheltered housing with social care on site.

Age Concern executive are also to be asked what commitment they are able to sign up to in any future development.

A further report will be available via the Bampton Website and Signpost when these questions have been answered.

EARLIER NEWS:

The Devon County Council Programme Board are to meet on Tuesday 21st March. They will discuss the future for BARNHAVEN as well as other Council owned residential care homes. They have a number of options available to them and we have lobbied the Board Members to ensure that they take on board those proposals placed before them by The Barnhaven Development Plan Forum.

The Feedback I have received so far, both from individual Board Members and the Director of Social Services is somewhat non specific, which is to be expected. However it has been stressed to me that our input to the debate through the submission of the Proposal was both helpful and welcome.

I have been assured that we will be kept fully informed of The Programme Boards deliberations.

A number of people have asked me when the next meeting of the Forum is to take place. The answer to that is that no meeting is planned UNTIL we receive a formal written response to the proposal – presumably after 21st March.

A very big THANK YOU to everyone who signed the petition in support of THE BARNHAVEN DEVELOPMENT PLAN FORUM. In all there are in excess of 1200 signatories from Bampton and the surrounding parishes. This will be presented to Parliament by Angela Browning MP on Monday next, 27/06.

DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL have yet to make a final decision that will affect the future of BARNHAVEN. Their Director of Social Services has in front of him a written proposal from the FORUM with a clear statement of commitment which is emphasised by the petition of support which you have signed.

In acknowledging receipt of that document and his letter of reply, which of itself is somewhat guarded, he does conclude as follows

‘I can assure you that I will do as much as I can within the constraints of legal fairness which apply to the tendering process to link your offer of partnership with the development proposals of selected or short-listed providers. I can also assure you that I regard the commitment and energy of the Forum and of the local community in and around Barnhaven as a positive asset for the County Council in considering how best to develop services for older people in Bampton.’

A further letter to Devon County Council will follow this week accompanied by a copy of the petition being presented to Parliament. We will seek from DCC some commitment to a timetable that they are now working to as the 90 day consultation period that commenced the process has long since passed. We may also ask them to make our strength of feeling and commitment known to those parties or organisations with whom they are already in discussion which could enable a satisfactory outcome for the future of Barnhaven as a centre for both Residential Care and community based care in Bampton and further afield.

March 18: We have just received information that our petition has been presented to Parliament by Angela Browning MP and it is now recorded in Hansard.

There is a link to Hansard on the Latest News page of the Barnhaven website www.barnhaven.org.uk

As soon as we have news of any response to the petition we'll email again and if there is anything to report from next Tuesday's meeting at Devon CC we'll update you all.

Devon County Council announced today it plans to hold detailed discussions with private sector care providers to explore the potential for four residential homes for older people - Barnhaven in Bampton, Orchard Lea in Cullompton, Kenwyn in Ashburton and Daw Vale in Dawlish - remaining open and developed to meet future care needs.

Devon County Council's Executive Member for Adult's Social Services, Cllr John Rawlinson, is a member of the Modernisation Programme Board that met yesterday. Following the meeting he said:

"We have been listening to residents, their families and carers, and their local communities, and believe that we should now hold detailed discussions with potential private sector providers about maintaining these four homes, and also developing them to meet modern care needs.

"There may have been an expectation in some quarters that the County Council were going to close these four homes, but today's decision shows that we are actively pursuing options which may keep them open.

"Our next step is to embark on more detailed planning with the potential partners. We intend to involve residents, their carers, our staff and local elected members and local communities to help us develop and evaluate the options."

3. DCC now have to gather and collate certain information, mostly financial, about Staff, Pensions etc to supply to the potential partners. For a reason that was not entirely clear but basically beaurocratic this information will not be ready to present to the parties until the end of April.

5. DCC cannot disclose to me (or anyone else) the identities of the parties at this time but have informed me that our own proposal details have been passed to them and it is DCC intention that the parties have full consultation with the relevant local communities.

It therefore seems likely that the earliest that we as a community will become further involved in the consultation process (where have I heard that before?) will be in June. I am, however, promised that I will be kept informed of progress on a regular basis and that John Burton and I may have earlier meetings with both David Johnstone of DCC and representatives of the private sector potential partners when they have been identified to us.

As some of you may already know I am the original cynic and basically dont trust governments be they local or national as far as I could throw them. We are NOT out of the woods with the future of Barnhaven itself and I am not convinced that DCC can impose any long term guarantees upon a third party. At this stage there is not a lot that we can do to influence the outcome although I intend to keep banging the drum under the noses of the right people from time to time and reminding them of out continued concerns and commitment to the Development Plan.

There is, however, one matter that we can all give some thought to and I would appreciate your comments in due course and that is FINANCE. We are not, as you know, a funded organisation and everyone is engaged on this project on a voluntary basis. There have already been and will be in the future expenses including but not exclusive to postage, telephone, stationary, printing etc. These costs have so far been borne by the individuals involved but I do not think it unreasonable to ask the community as a whole to make some contribution in this respect. In the first instance I would like to suggest to each Parish/Town council that they make a donation to a fund to be properly administered from which appropriate expenses can be met. Further, as Simon is creating a substantial database from the names and addresses collected via the petition we could either soon or in the near future invite contributions from the wider community on an individual basis.

Were this suggestion to meet with your approval I would suggest that an account could be opened at Bampton Post office and we would need to appoint a treasurer and a second signatory to the account. Volunteers please!

I was hoping to call a meeting of the Forum before Easter but this would appear to be difficult for some at the moment so as soon as that is past I would like to have an Open meeting in either the Public Hall or Community Hall by which time I would hope to have more definite information and we can react and respond to that accordingly. In the meantime any thoughts or observations that you have are very welcome and it is important that apart from my own contunued contact with DCC please, through your Parish Councils and notices, keep the community informed and keep the focus on the commitment we have already made for the future of care provision within our extended community.

31st March 2006: Following last week's statement from Devon County Council on the plans for
the four care homes under review, Robin Barwell has been in touch with
David Johnstone, Director of Social Services, to re-emphasis the committment
of the Barnhaven Development Plan Forum and to request some idea of a
timetable for further action.

We have been informed that Devon CC have selected two potential private
sector partners from a large number of original interested parties. The two
are shortlisted because they have said that they will take over all four
homes. Devon CC now have to gather and collate financial information to
submit to those potential partners after which they will need a minimum of 4
weeks to absorb this information into their final proposals to place before
Devon CC. We do not know the identities of the potential partners but we
have been reassured that our proposal details have been passed to them and
that it is Devon CC's intention that there is full consultation with the
relevant local communities.

So, nothing negative so far but no long term guarantees either.

We intend to keep communicating with Devon CC and when possible with the
potential partners, to remind them of our concerns about the future of
Barnhaven and our committment to the Development Plan.

I did advise that there would be little or nothing to report concerning the
future of BARNHAVEN until mid June. The development process initiated by DCC
has been ongoing and required the following:

1. Collecting and collating all financial information concerning the four
homes concerned including implications for staff wages and pensions etc.
2. Providing fully audited financial statements to the short listed
potential partners.
3. Awaiting their response together with full costings and projections and
detailed proposals for the long term secure future of all four homes and the
development of services from them.

Parts 1. and 2. have been completed and part 3 is ongoing and much of the
work has been completed.

I have been asked to attend a briefing meeting with DCC, District Council
representatives, MP's etc on Wednesday 21st June. John Burton and Myself
will represent Barnhaven Development Plan Forum. This is NOT a public
meeting and I will issue a statement straight after. The shortlisted
partners are expected to attend and whilst I am not at liberty to divulge
their identities I can say that from my early, albeit brief, research either
of them would seem suitable and would welcome the imput and active support
from the local communities concerned.

Barnhaven's Future in Bampton

Barnhaven is a residential care home sited in the middle of Bampton. At present it is owned and run by Devon County Council - but its future is very uncertain:

EARLIER NEWS: