Closure of St. Johns Tiffield Secure United condemned by the Lib Dems

4.05.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 16th Apr 2007

Councillor John Yates

Cllr. John Yates, Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Education and Youth Services has condemned the closure of St. Johns Tiffield Secure Unit by the Conservative County Council as once again showing that the Conservatives care more about saving money than providing facilities for some of the most severely traumatised, disturbed, abused and neglected children in our county.

These damaged young adults will now be shunted around the United Kingdom to where facilities do exist. This will mean less contact with their families, less contact with their social workers, and more expense as the facilities around the UK close and pressure on places increase. St. Johns Tiffield represented 10% of the national provision.

With the planned expansion in Northamptonshire in the future, spending over £1million of council tax payers money to demolish a purpose built "state of the art" provision will be seen by all in a very few years time as an act of severe folly.