ELDERLY people at a West Devon sheltered housing estate are concerned for their security, following the loss of their resident warden.

West Devon Homes, which runs Briar Tor estate at Yelverton, says it has been forced to bring in major changes following a shake-up in Government housing policy.

It means instead of a resident warden, a monthly rota system with a different warden each week is to be introduced.

But a meeting between Briar Tor residents and West Devon Homes last week heard tenants? fears that there would be no-one permanently on-site.

At night, residents now have to rely on Call 24, an emergency cord pull system which is installed in each house.

One resident said he was left lying on the floor for more than four hours before receiving a response from Call 24 after a bad fall recently.

He finally got help when a neighbour awoke to hear him banging on the floor with his walking stick.

Briar Tor?s last resident warden, Sandra Parris, saw her post cut on July 13 at the end of a one-year contract.

She paid each tenant a statutory personal visit three times a week and also contacted them via intercom three more times.

Although this is not set to change under the new system, tenants say they are concerned at the lack of day-to-day interaction, and feel they will lose confidence knowing there is no-one regularly on-site.

One resident said: ?Before, we knew Sandra was always keeping an eye open ? if anything happened out of contact hours she was there immediately ? and always noticed if something was amiss.

?Without her, or another resident warden, we cannot be sure anyone will notice if a light doesn?t go out until much later than normal, or if someone doesn?t collect their milk bottles in one morning.?

Mrs Parris said: ?When I am on call I am often not needed ? I potter around the house, or go across to the shops and have time to myself because the residents are all okay.

?If I then get called out at 2am because someone has fallen, or is ill for example, I see that as being in lieu of the time that I have not been needed during my working day.?

But West Devon Homes claim this is an ?additional service? that tenants were never supposed to receive.

Chief executive Jean Peters said: ?The trouble is, residents have got used to a service they were never meant to be provided with.

?They will have a warden on call 9am until 5pm as they do now ? what they won?t have is a direct link to a warden on-site at other times.

?Resident wardens have complained that their off-duty time is still taken up with call-outs because they are always present on site, and that is what we have to change.?

Mrs Peters said that, according to the Government, tenants could manage without a resident warden for a fortnight while they took holiday or sick leave, so there was no reason why they could not manage all the time.

The company said it would investigate alleged delayed responses from Call 24 and said calls should be answered within 60 seconds.

West Devon Homes sheltered and supported housing services co-ordinator Amanda Lowder-Cotterill said: ?Before last April we basically had a free rein, now there are so many guidelines and we have been warned that if we don?t follow them it will be detrimental to funding.

?We have already had one budget cut. We can?t afford to lose more ? the knock-on effect for our sheltered housing residents would be disastrous.?

The rotation system to replace resident wardens is being applied across West Devon Homes? sheltered housing.

Accommodation at Horrabridge?s Phoenix Close, Pinder Court at Tavistock and Hillfield/The Croft in South Zeal is likely to be redesignated. This means they will no longer be reserved for people over the age of 60 but will be aimed at alternative age groups, primarily people aged between 50 and 55.