Councillors voted to close a top-performing specialist care home for people with dementia.

Lib Dem councillors on Sutton Council voted to close Oakleigh care home- the last under its control, and the borough's only three-star care home, as a cost-cutting measure.

The move came despite pleas to save the home from opposition councillors, relatives of people at home, and community organisations supporting the elderly.

Community umbrella organisation Sutton Local Involvement Network (Link) said any closure would be “catastrophic” for dementia services in the borough.

The final decision to close the home was taken at a full council meeting on Monday night.

Up to 50 staff at the home could be made redundant or be redeployed elsewhere, while 11 vulnerable residents at the home will have to find alternative accommodation.

The meeting was told three residents of the home had died as a result of the trauma of leaving the home, which had been renovated just a few years ago.

Opposition councillors claimed the home was being sold off to release funds required for a revamp of Sutton Civic Centre.

They also said the yearly savings of between £350,000 and £400,000 estimated as a result of closing the home, were equivalent to what the council was having to invest each year in the under-performing Sutton Life Centre.

Tory councillor Peter Geiringer called the decision to close the home immoral.

Tory deputy leader Tim Crowley, said: "This is not a pool or a children's playground, this is where people who can't look after themselves go for help."

The Lib-Dem administration argued a consultation on Oakleigh’s future, launched last year after a review showed there was sufficient residential and nursing care available locally to meet current and future needs of people with dementia at better value to the taxpayer.

It said it was under pressure to reduce costs because of Government funding cuts of about 25 per cent.

Oakleigh costs £1024 per week for a placement, whereby costs in the private sector are £588.

An extensive search to specifically to see if Oakleigh could be transferred to a different provider was unsuccessful.

The home could now close as early as September, depending on the transfer of its last residents to suitable new accommodation.