A CONTROVERSIAL plan to close Harewood House residential home in Tavistock has been slammed as 'shocking' by public services' union Unison. As part of Devon County Council's bid to save £110-million over the next four years due to cuts in Government funding, the recommendation to close Harewood House has come as a 'huge blow' to residents, carers and their families who say the home and its services are a 'crucial' part of their lives. After the announcement made by the county council this week to close 20 adult residential care homes across Devon, Unison has vowed to oppose the decision that could leave more than 400 vulnerable adults and staff with an uncertain future. Joanne Kaye, Unison South West regional secretary, said: 'This shameful decision made by Devon County Council is yet another shocking example of the devastating cuts being placed on the shoulders of the most vulnerable people in our society. 'These vulnerable adults are likely to face confusion and anxiety about today's announcement and the council will be left without a valuable and crucial service. 'It is clear that the council had already made its mind up, it had a strategy in it sights. The hard working front line staff that now face redundancy is just shocking news.' Harewood House currently has 14 long stay residents aged between 74 and 101-years-old. Dr David Benzie, from Tavistock, whose father uses Harewood's day centre and residential home for occasional respite, said the site plays a 'crucial part in their lives'. He said: 'I am not against change but the change must be done with the best intentions with the most vulnerable in mind, and to not be about cost cutting. 'I want to make sure that the changes won't happen fast and I want to make sure that new provisions of a comparable standard are available and in place before Harewood House is closed. This is unwelcome news and it has caused distress.' Cyril Blatchford, 79, from Milton Abbot, has said that the home has been a lifeline for him and his family. He said: 'When my sons go away on holiday I use the respite side of it and my family know I am safe. I have used it three times and it has been a godsend! 'When it closes I can see the patients at hospital staying longer because they can't go to respite in Harewood. 'The staff there are absolutely marvellous and I am sorry to hear the council has decided to close it.' Money spent on the home in the past five years to address standard maintenance requirements and minor improvements was £259,880, and outstanding work is a further £195,000, including heating, ventilation, electric and lift refurbishment. With demand for council beds falling, the authority said it would rely on the private sector to provide more of the residential places needed, and devote more resources to the increasing number of people who needed support to continue living at home and those who need complex care. The council said these plans were the only way that it could make the savings required of it by the Government, and still be able to support the old and vulnerable. Nine out of every ten people whose residential care is funded by the council are cared for in private sector care homes — just one in ten are cared for in council run homes. The council said its own homes were expensive to run. It pays private care homes up to £426 a week for a care bed, where as in its own homes it costs, on average, £903 per bed per week. Meanwhile, half of the county's day services will close after the number of people using the facility fell by two thirds in nine years. Centres where there are no alternative provisions, and none to be in the future, will remain open, but as a plan to create a day centre in Tavistock, at Abbey Rise, has been proposed, the Molly Owen Day Centre in Tavistock, has been recommended to be retained and moved to Abbey Rise in Spring 2015. There has also been a recommendation that as there is a range of alternative provision locally for Harewood's day centre, the county council will begin to work with the service users and their carers from November this year to develop services. Cllr Stuart Barker, the council's cabinet member, with responsibility for the council's care homes and day services, said: 'Nothing will happen immediately. This is a process that will take time and we will do this with great care and sensitivity. 'The phased closure of our care homes will be conducted over a period up to 18 months, and that process will be managed case by case with residents and their families. 'No-one will, within reason need to move until a place at the home they choose to move to is available. The speed of their move will, to a large extent, be determined by the residents themselves and the availability of their choice. 'We will do everything we can to minimise that anxiety. 'Regarding day centres, nothing will happen immediately and no one will be left without a day service or be financially worse off for it.' The Association of Public Service Excellence, in a report commissioned by Unison, said that there was widespread concern that the current proposals will reduce, rather than enhance choice and leave some people to 'fall through the gaps'. Steve Ryles, Devon County Unison branch secretary said councillors would need to consider whether the risks associated with a total withdrawal from direct provision were worth taking for what was a small marginal overall cost reduction. Devon County Council's Liberal Democrats on Tuesday afternoon 'called-in' the decision to close the care homes and day centres. The 'call-in' would allow much greater scrutiny of the decision and the process behind it, said Lib Dem leader Cllr Alan Connett. The challenge will now go to a meeting of the county council's Peoples' Scrutiny committee where councillors will have the opportunity to ask more detailed questions about the plans and make alternative recommendations, said Cllr Connett.