CAMPAIGNERS against the threatened closure of a York respite care centre hit out today after it emerged consultants have already been appointed to help sell the property.

Protesters said the decision by the MS Society to use property consultants Gerald Eve to explore ways of marketing Woodlands and three other centres was “premature”.

Verity Cridland, coordinator of a campaign against the centre closure, said no such action should be taken at least until after the society’s AGM had been held in late September, at which a motion calling for the closure decision to be suspended will be debated.

Woodlands, off Hull Road, the only respite centre for people with multiple sclerosis in the York area, is one of four across the country at risk.

The Press has reported previously how the society no longer intends to run the centres, and they will be shut unless someone else comes forward to take them over. The society has said its decision would allow it to invest in more individualised and personalised services for MS sufferers.

The homes will be shut by late 2011 unless the services are taken up by another provider.

Now the society has said that while Woodlands had not been sold, it had appointed Gerald Eve to help it ‘explore options for marketing the centres and to guide us through the sale process.’ A spokeswoman said the end of 2011 had been a suggested date by when the society would no longer provide residential respite care.

“If a suitable offer from another provider comes forward before then we would pursue it to ensure care provision continues,” she said.

“More than 20 organisations have expressed interest in taking on one or more of the four centres across the country.”

She said all the organisations would intend to provide respite care to people suffering from illnesses including MS. She added that Woodlands would be marketed in the period up to the end of September, when the AGM takes place.