ELDERLY people wanting to keep live-in wardens at their sheltered housing schemes were today due to appeal directly to the board of Worcester Community Housing.

The housing association is proposing to replace resident wardens at 13 sheltered housing schemes with mobile teams of full and part-time wardens.

Consultation meetings have been held, but residents believe the decision has already been made and feel they are being told rather than consulted.

Now, thanks to the intervention of Worcester MP Mike Foster, they will have the chance to put their views to the directors.

"The board has agreed to accept a delegation ahead of the board meeting," said Mr Foster.

"I understand their concerns and have a great deal of sympathy with them. I think it's right that those running the housing association should hear what they have to say."

People from six sheltered housing complexes got together with some of their supporters at Furness Close on Friday night to discuss their worries.

Ninety-two-year-old Beatrice Thompson, from Brookthorpe, said she felt hurt at the way they were being treated: "When we get to a certain age, we get set in our ways and learn to trust certain people," she said.

"Our wardens are the people we can trust. We feel safe, have peace of mind and can sleep at night knowing there is someone there to look after us.

"We want them to stay. They should leave things as they are."

One of today's delegation is Peter Ford, whose 95-year-old mother, Ida, lives in sheltered housing at Lincoln Green.

He said housing director Jean Hartley seemed adamant the new scheme would go through. But he hoped they would be able to make the board see sense.

"My mother is very perturbed about this, like a lot of the residents," he said.

"A lot of them are disabled. How can they look after them properly if there is no one about on-site?"

Another of the residents' supporters, Alison White, said: "Fair play to them. They may be old age pensioners, but they won't go down without a fight."