IT seems that once again the tireless efforts of hardworking volunteers who raised the £500,000 needed to create the Douglas Arter Centre are being cast aside by large corporations such as Scope who now wish to downsize the support they offer.

Not wishing to discredit the good work these charities have done, there does seem to be a rise in high paid chief executives and board members which could take much needed resources away from the intended recipients.

Surely if this facility truly was funded by public money, the matter of Scope pulling out should merely be an issue for a tendering process where other care providers bid for the opportunity to work with fantastic residents and their families to enable this provision to be retained.

Is now a good time for the local Clinical Commissioning Group, Wiltshire Council and other care providers to negotiate fully other options? The residents and their families are not in a position to move relatives miles away from their home at The Douglas Arter Centre.

Also many of the public consultations that are held seem to be a pacification process and not a consultation, as most of the time decisions have already been made months before, with certain steps already being used as in the case of Hillcote issue with people no longer being referred into that service.

Councillor Caroline Corbin

Bemerton Ward