A KEYNSHAM couple have spoken of their tears of joy at the decision to save a respite care home from closure.
Richard and Julie Franklin’s son Ryan is among those supported by Newton House, the only respite care home in Bath and North East Somerset which offers young people with the most severe care needs short stays away from their full-time carers.
Ryan – who has a condition which means he is small, is non-verbal, and needs medication and a very high level of care – regularly stays at Newton House, where his parents say they know they can trust the team and do not have to worry about him.
For parents of children who, even into adulthood, require a near constant level of care, the service is a “lifeline.”
But at the end of 2024 they were told it would have to close as it had become “unaffordable.” The current arrangement had been set to end in October.
Now, after a year of campaigning, families have been told that Bath and North East Somerset Council is negotiating a contract for the service for another five years.
It was on January 13 – a year to the day that four Newton House parents came to the council to share their stories and urge it to keep Newton House open – that they were invited to a meeting to be told the news.
Speaking after the meeting, Richard Franklin said: “It’s just a big relief. When I got home with Julie, the pair of us just cried together.”
Wendy Lucas, who only gets a full night’s sleep on the two nights her daughter Rhiannon attends Newton House, said: “It’s wonderful news for all the families and we are beyond overjoyed.
“I cannot emphasise what a huge relief this is and a complete vindication of everything we have been telling the council in meetings for the past 12 months. It’s also proof that parent power really does matter.”
The 22 families who used Newton House had been sent letters from B&NES Council and care provider Dimensions in November 2024 telling them the respite care service would close at the end of January 2025.
The letters were sent out before the council’s cabinet member for adult services, Alison Born (Widcombe and Lyncombe, Liberal Democrat), had even been told the service was ending.
A few days after the shambolic announcement, the council wrote again to the families of people who use Newton House to apologise for the distress caused and say that the closure had been “paused” – initially to January 2026 and later to October.
Mr Franklin, a Keynsham window cleaner, launched a petition now signed by almost 3,000 people calling for Newton House to be kept open.
His local councillor Dave Biddleston (Keynsham South, Labour) helped him raise the issue with the council.
For a year, the Newton House families were a permanent fixture of council committees each time the future of the service was discussed and joined a council working group on the issue.
On January 19, the future of Newton House was raised at the B&NES Council scrutiny committee for what parents hope will be the last time, as the cabinet member for adult social care, Alison Born, told the meeting she was “delighted” that the council has been able to recommission the service.
The council said it can issue a direct award to keep it open thanks to new powers introduced in the Procurement Act 2023 as there is no other service in the area.
Ms Born said: “I am confident there shouldn’t be further hurdles. As well as working with the families, we have also been working with the provider. They are on board with the process.”
Asked what the council would do to make sure the situation did not happen again, Ms Born said: “The important thing is that we don’t make any important decisions – certainly not decisions of that magnitude, but any decisions which are around changing the way that we provide services for people – without involving the people who use those services in them.”
Mr Franklin told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I think it could have been avoided if they had been more open. I think the council recognises that as well. But we are happy with the result.”
He added: “As a parent of a person with severe impairments, it means we can plan our lives again. Having somewhere you can trust to leave your loved ones is absolutely vital, and we must never lose this ever again.”
Cllr Biddleston said: “Respite care is not a luxury, it is absolutely essential. Parents and carers of people with severe impairments provide extraordinary levels of care, often around the clock, year after year.
“What is sometimes forgotten is that these parents never stop being parents. Their caring role does not end when their child becomes an adult, it continues for the rest of their lives.
“Respite services like Newton House provide vital breathing space, protect carers’ physical and mental health, and ultimately help families stay together and well. Ensuring stability, continuity, and choice in respite provision is the right thing to do, both morally and practically.”
Cllr Duncan Hounsell (Lib Dem, Saltford ward) added: “I have known Ryan all his life. His amazing mother Julie and step-dad Rich give Ryan devoted care but need a break every now and then with respite care locally, where they know Ryan will be well looked after.
“Well done to all who campaigned for this and the councillors who have found a solution.”
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Report Service
Pictured above, parents (left to right) Derek Greenman, Julie Franklin, Richard Franklin, and Wendy Lucas. Below, Ryan Probert
