IT IS no great surprise that the two Bolton OAP homes scheduled to close are Stocks Park, Horwich, and Lever Edge House, Great Lever.

The Social Services chiefs have been running them down since declaring optimistically that they were earmarked to become community care centres. Now even those hopes have ben shattered.

We oppose the closure of any homes but, as the BEN has reported before, Bolton Council puts the blame squarely on the Government and uses persuasive arguments for doing so. Just as persuasive are the arguments of those opposed to the closures, particularly in Horwich, and we wish them success in continuing their fight.

The outcome, however, almost certainly will mean that some elderly people, who are among the most vulnerable in our society, will have to be uprooted from what they rightly regard as their own homes.

For them, the moves must be made as easy as possible but it is inevitable that the disruption will cause heartache and tears.

These elderly people are the innocent victims of a market economy which has allowed private homes to prosper by paying lower wages and taking government subsidies denied to local authorities.

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