A petition started to save a care home at risk of closure is gathering pace, with 3,500 people urging Bradford Council not to shut its doors.

Relatives of residents at Holme View, in Holme Wood, set up the Holme View Carers’ Action Group after learning the Bradford Council-run home was under threat.

The home is one of three that could close later this year as the Council consults on their future. The other homes are Harbourne in Wibsey and Neville Grange in Shipley.

Councillors and Council officials have been attending the group’s regular meetings, with the next one scheduled for May 8.

Group member Ann Munday said a meeting this week attended by councillors, including Councillor John Robertshaw, chairman of the social care overview and scrutiny committee, was a success, with those attending sympathetic to the relatives’ plight.

“Members will be handing the petition to the Council on July 1 and I think when you get more than 1,500 signatures, it has to go before full Council,” she said.

“We want to stop it closing and want to invite the Executive committee, which makes the final decisions about its future, to come to Holme View and see it.”

Jackie Barrett, who helped set up the action group and whose father, 86-year-old Fred Sharp, is a resident of the home, has previously said: “We did ask that they don’t close Holme View until they have a new home ready for residents to move to. And we asked why they want to close another three homes if it is a ten year plan. That would be effectively six homes gone in 12 months.

“The Council did tell us that they are considering other sites for the three to five new homes and that developers are being asked to provide more accurate costs.

"It is hoped that this information will all come back to the committee at the same time as the results of the consultation, but there is still a long way to go.”