Children’s respite homes in Redruth and Truro will close in September after a decision by cabinet members at Cornwall Council.

St Christopher’s in Redruth and LRedwing in Truro offer respite to parents by taking disabled children for short breaks.

Thirty five children and 27 staff members will be impacted by the decision.

Cabinet member for children and families, Andrew Wallis, who argued for the planned June closures to be delayed until September to allow "families to put transitions in place and on their terms", has said a review was undertaken because "the service needs to be delivered differently as there is less money to go around".

Adding: " I wish it was different, but it is not.  In the coming years, most services will either see a reduction, a different delivery model, or sadly stopping all together.

Currently the Council operates six short break centres in Cornwall; and this provides residential short breaks to over 160 disabled children. The cost of running this service is £3m. Overall the Council spends £10.5m on services to support children with educational needs and disabilities.

The residential short breaks needs to save roughly £600k from a £3m budget.