AN AXE continues to hang over six council-run residential nursing homes after it was decided two of them must close.

A passionate bid to save them failed last night when Labour's Jim D'Avila could not convince the authority's Conservative decision-making cabinet to keep all six open.

The council will press on with the closures after hearing how the homes would struggle to meet strict national care standards and how the authority did not have any extra cash to keep all six running.

A decision on which of Fessey House in Haydon Wick, Langton House, Wroughton, Lease Hill, Moredon, Pinetrees, Pinehurst, Whitbourne House, Park South and Wick House in Liden, will close will be made before February next year.

Residents, family and staff at the homes will all be quizzed before a decision is made.

Jemima Milton (Con, Wroughton and Chiseldon) and the council's lead member for social services made a plea for the subject not to become a political football, but blamed the council's former Labour administration for the current fiasco.

Last night's cabinet meeting heard there is not enough room in some elderly people's rooms for them to have an easy chair and some residents have to get changed sitting on their bed. But not everyone wants to see the homes closed. Jim D'Avila (Lab, Moredon) wanted all six remain open and urged the council to do so before Labour group leader Kevin Small (Western) added: "Residents have a right to stay in their homes."

It currently costs the council around £5 million a year to maintain the six care homes.

Reducing the number to four by next year would mean redeploying staff and additional investment of some £2 million to meet strict national standards.

Another alternative, which was rejected, was to pay an independent operator to run the homes . This would cost more than £5 million.