Cheshire East Council is looking into how the decision was taken to close its school meals catering service without considering the impact on elderly people who also relied on it.

The children and families committee (C&F) voted in April last year to close the loss-making service this year, saying it could no longer afford to subsidise it.

But the service also provided meals for elderly residents living in Oakmere Extra Care in Handforth and Willowmere in Middlewich – and there was no mention of them at all at the two committee meetings where the closure was discussed.

A one-line reference on the C&F agenda had stated: "Separate discussions are ongoing with adult services in relation to the extra care housing service who currently use the school catering team to provide food in two locations (Oakmere and Willowmere)."

Several councillors on the C&F committee have since said they took this to mean it would have no impact on the elderly, because they felt a decision could not be made when the report said discussions were 'ongoing'.

Willowmere in Middlewich has also been stripped of its school meals catering service (Google).

Even when the committee deferred the decision at its first meeting in February 2024 for more feedback from the schools, the council's officers failed to consult with the elderly residents.

Those older residents finally learned in August they were losing their restaurant service – four months after the decision was taken.

And the adults and health committee, which normally deals with issues affecting elderly residents, only got to discuss the implications of the decision in January of this year – after their service had closed completely.

On Monday 24 February, acting monitoring officer Janet Witkowski assured the audit and governance committee the matter would be looked into.

"It's something I need to look at, because I need to look at how it happened, as it happened," said Mrs Witkowski.

"I need to understand was this just an error? Was it that there wasn't sufficient training?

"Was it a lack of understanding? At the moment, I'm not in a position to say. I'm not sure how it happened, when it happened."

Councillor Patrick Redstone has been highly critical of the process (Cheshire East Council).

Cllr Patrick Redstone (Odd Rode, Con) was highly critical of the process.

"I think what we want is to make sure the constitution is properly enforced, that officers are properly educated and trained, so when they are taking a decision that affects other committees, they clearly identify that," he said.

Cllr Sue Adams (Disley, Con) said: "I'm a member of the adults and health committee, and this issue caused massive distress for quite a lot of older residents, and we can't have this sort of thing happen again."

Several of the Oakmere residents, who have now lost their restaurant service, turned up at last month's adults and health committee meeting to tell councillors how 'the soul has been ripped out of Oakmere and the community by this devastating decision'.

Many are disabled or have dementia and cannot cook a meal for themselves.

At present, as an interim measure, their meals are delivered by two charities based in Knutsford and Crewe at approximately the same price as they were paying in their restaurants.

Cheshire East assured the residents last month it was looking for a long-term solution.

Would you like to know more about Sandbach?

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Sandbach Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our town.

Please consider following Sandbach Nub News on Facebook  or X (Twitter)

We also have a weekly newsletter with the TOP FIVE stories of the week - sign up here