FEARS a Redditch residential home could be closed are still mounting, despite assurances it will remain open.

Dorothy Terry House, in Crabbs Cross, is owned and run by the British Red Cross but a proposal to hand over its management has worried a number of residents and Redditch councillors who fear the popular residential home could be just one of many to close.

However, a British Red Cross spokesman said: "We are looking for a new care provider but we are not selling or closing the home - we're just handing over the management.

"The Red Cross is really supposed to provide a short-term emergency response for things like flooding, first aid and helping refugees as they are vulnerable people."

The spokesman added: "We are trying to move away from long-term responses and long-term care because it is not our big area of expertise."

Councillor Karen Lumley said: "I visited the home earlier this year and was very impressed with the way it was run, with the standard of care and the facilities.

"I am concerned in today's society we are seeing homes closing all the time because they are not getting enough funding from social services.

"If somebody were to take over its management, surely they would need to make a profit. I'm still concerned it could close."

Councillor James Uphill said: "We lost one in Ivor Road last year and Chilton House in Mount Pleasant took a lot of residents from Leamington when a residential home there closed.

"We seem to be losing places for our old folk and I think there is still a question mark over the future of Dorothy Terry House."