A CARE home which was controversially closed by Bradford Council has now been put up for auction.

Harbourne House in Wibsey shut its doors last month, despite a hard-fought public campaign backed by 1,800 people.

Now, one of the campaigners who fought the closure has praised the dedication of the staff there, who cared for his mother in her final days.

Eighty-seven-year-old Muriel Keeling died of pneumonia on January 16, only days after Harbourne closed its doors.

Her son and carer, Brian, said staff at Harbourne had bent over backwards to offer his ailing mother respite care in its final week before closure.

He said: "They did me a big favour, they were absolutely marvellous. They even said she could have stopped in over their last weekend.

"There were only three residents left there that last week.

"They said she could have stopped until the Sunday and then they would have transferred her over to Woodward Court [in Allerton]."

In the end, on the Wednesday before the home's closure, Mrs Keeling was taken to hospital. A chest infection then developed into pneumonia and she died nine days later.

Mr Keeling said he was hugely grateful for the care his mother had received at Harbourne, not only in that last week but throughout the 14 months she had been visiting its day centre and staying for respite care.

Bradford Council's executive took the decision to close Harbourne in October, with Council bosses saying the building was outdated and had a £222,000 maintenance backlog.

The Council, which has a long-term plan to stop providing its own care homes, plans to close another home soon but has not yet revealed which one will shut.

Lyn Sowray, Bradford Council's assistant director of operational services, said residents at Harbourne had been moved to another of its home, along with some of the staff.

She said: "All staff at Harbourne were offered redeployment opportunities in the service and are settling into their new posts.

"At this stage no decision has been made on the decommissioning of another home."

The Harbourne site will be sold at auction in Leeds on February 24. It is being marketed as a "development opportunity" and has no guide price.

The Council is also flogging off a host of other properties, with guide prices totalling nearly £500,000.

These include former offices at Scholemoor Cemetery and two former children's respite centres in Buttershaw and Greengates, Bradford.