Saints football legend joins fight to save Hampshire care homes

A former England footballer is petitioning to stop his mum's care home from closing down.

Mick Channon, who used to play for Southampton FC, often visits his mother at Bishops Waltham House in Hampshire.

But it is one of seven residential care homes marked for closure by Hampshire County Council, which wants to invest more money in specialist nursing accommodation instead.

A formal public consultation will take place in September.

The council is considering shutting down Bishops Waltham House, Solent Mead in Lymington, Green Meadows in Waterlooville, as well as Westholme in Winchester and Malmsbury Lawn in Havant.

Two care homes which have been temporarily closed since 2021 - Copper Beaches in Andover and Cranleigh Paddock in Lyndhurst - would not reopen.

Standard residential care at Oakridge, Ticehurst and Emsworth would cease after autumn 2025.

Mr Channon and his niece, Amber Hudson, launched a petition that has amassed signatures online and in the town's shops.

He said the home was a "smashing place" and felt it would be awful if the area lost the facility.

"I just hope someone comes to their senses," he told BBC News.

Ms Hudson said she was shocked to hear the home could be closed down, as her grandmother is very happy there and she thinks the staff are wonderful.

"Many of them live locally, they can't just move to another job miles away where a new nursing home is built, they walk to work, the public transport around here is awful," she added.

Hampshire County Council wants to spend £173m on short-term support and complex dementia care, which it hopes would prevent hospital admissions.

The proposals would see three new nursing homes built at Oak Park in Havant, Cornerways in Winchester and a new site in the New Forest.

It said three existing council homes would be modernised and expanded to provide specialist care at Oakridge in Basingstoke, Ticehurst in Aldershot and Emsworth in Havant.

Leader of the council Rob Humby said he expects the number of Hampshire residents aged 85 and over increase by 22% over the next eight years - an extra 62,000 people.

He said: "While our ageing lives are to be celebrated, we are seeing many people developing illnesses and living their later years in ill health, many with complex conditions, including dementia."

Mr Humby added that the plans would meet the needs of a growing number of older people in the longer-term.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].