Cornish homes go private

Cornwall County Council has voted to transfer 18 residential
homes for elderly people to a new non-profit-making, arms-length
company, Cornwall County Care Ltd.

However, the council has said it intends to retain ownership of
the buildings.

The move was described by social services chairperson Mike
Nicholls as the best way to ensure the future of the old people’s
homes into the next century.

‘Without this, we would probably be here today discussing the
closure of some homes,’ he said.

But a spokesperson for the local Unison branch said that while
the union continued, in principle, to oppose privatisation, ‘we are
now starting to negotiate the best deal we can for our
members’.