IT seems there are signs of hope on the horizon for the closure-threatened Pershore Care Centre and Perryfields Day Centre in Worcester.

There were tears from the families of the severely disabled people who use the centres when county councillors decided to close them.

Some of these people have used the centres for more than 20 years.

Their families have been left distraught by the decision.

Closing the centres will save the county council about £200,000 a year and Worcestershire councillors say the move is "in line with national policy".

Now, however, the decision is to be studied by the council's scrutiny committee.

This is the group, regular readers will remember, which succeeded in overturning the decision to close the popular Llanrug outdoor education centre used by thousands of school children across the county.

We would not wish to give the users of the two centres or their families false hope.

But the fact that the closure decision is to be held up to further scrutiny means their fight is far from over - and at the very least they have a stay of execution for a couple of months.

Moving the users of these care centres elsewhere will be hugely disruptive and upsetting for them.

We recognise that times are tight for our local authorities.

But at a time when a considerable amount of public money is being spent on refurbishing County Hall we think there should be room for compassion on this issue.