Central Bedfordshire Council news and press releases

Have your say on the future of our day service for older people

Tuesday, 21 June 2022

There are only a few weeks left for people to take part in two consultations to help shape the future of our day service for older people.

We own and operate 7 day centres – 4 are for older people. We're now consulting on the future of Biggleswade and Leighton Buzzard older peoples' day centres.

The consultations focus on proposals to relocate the Biggleswade Day Centre for Older People to community space at Sorrel Gardens in Biggleswade, and to relocate Leighton Buzzard Day Centre to community space at Marigold House in Leighton Buzzard.

A community opportunities group for customers with learning disabilities is based at Leighton Buzzard Day Centre for three days a week; if the day centre were to close, then an alternative ‘touch down’ base would be identified.

Councillor Carole Hegley, our Executive Member for Executive Member for Adult Social Care said:

We have extensively reviewed our current day offer, and we believe we can offer better opportunities to our older persons day centre customers. We want to make sure that our day centres are comfortable and offer the best opportunities for social interaction, as well as offering respite and peace of mind for carers.

Our team has offered face-to-face meetings with all our day services customers and their families about the consultation, to explain why we are consulting and what we are hoping to achieve. There is still time for people to have their say though; the consultation on the future of Leighton Buzzard Day Centre is due to close on 7 July and the Biggleswade consultation will close on 15 July.

Biggleswade Day Centre for Older People: have your say.

Leighton Buzzard Day Centre for Older People: have your say.

We originally began a consultation on the future of Leighton Buzzard Day Centre in 2020, but this was paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The responses of anyone who completed the questionnaire previously will be included in a separate report, although we're encouraging those people to respond again.