Fury over polio care plans

They disputed claims made by Andrew Kemp, chief executive of the British Polio Fellowship, which runs the Lantern Hotel in Shelley Road.

On Monday, Mr Kemp said the home, which can cater for up to 18 victims of polio, would close by the end of the year.

He said: "We have a diminishing pool of potential clients because polio is now thankfully a thing of the past in the developed world. Funding rules have changed and we are victims, like many charities, of the fall in the stock market.

"The trustees made the decision very reluctantly. It was a difficult choice but one that was necessary."

The hotel is occupied by 13 mainly elderly residents and also caters for people who come to Worthing each year for a holiday.

Mr Kemp said the fellowship was trying to find alternative accommodation for the residents.

But Bob Stephens, chairman of the Worthing and Sussex Branch of the British Polio Fellowship, accused Mr Kemp of making bland statements.

Mr Stephens, of Lime Tree Avenue, Worthing, said: "He seems to have forgotten to mention that income from holiday guests rose last year by 23 per cent and we recently had six polio-disabled members waiting to move into our accommodation.

"For some reason we have kept the price of residents' accommodation artificially low at £317.00 per week, which includes full care facilities."

Mr Kemp said: "Holiday income at the Lantern Hotel did increase by 23 per cent last year but only just over 50 per cent of bookings are from polio-disabled guests, the people for whom the fellowship exists."

He said the Lantern's current weekly charge for residential care was higher than the mid-rate paid by West Sussex County Council.

He added: "The unfortunate reality is that most people interested in a move to The Lantern are ineligible for higher payments and few can afford the very high market rates to which he refers, and which it would therefore be impossible for the Fellowship to charge."