A POLITICIAN wants housing associations to unite and save a women’s refuge earmarked for closure.

Jack Paton, an independent Carlisle City councillor for Botcherby, wants Impact Housing – which currently provides the accommodation in the city – Riverside, The Home Group and Two Castles Housing to work together and find a solution and save the service, which is among the latest casualties of the public sector spending squeeze.

Impact Housing Association has not tendered for a new contract from Cumbria County Council to operate the centre and no other organisations have come forward.

As a result the refuge, which is in a secret location, is set to close at the end of March.

Following the announcement, Mr Paton said that he went out into the city to speak to people about the impact closing the refuge would have on vulnerable women.

“I spent about an hour talking to around 20 people and not one of them was in favour of it closing,” he said.

“One woman even told me that she’d previously stayed in the refuge and said that being there had saved her life. That’s how important it is to people who are at risk of becoming victims of domestic violence. If it closes, then they’ll have to go elsewhere but why should that be the case?

“The problem is that the facility is due to close soon so if we’re going to try and save it, then we need to be acting as soon as possible. What would be great, and what I’d like to see, is for all four housing associations working in Carlisle prepared to work together, each put some money in and take joint responsibility.”

But Mike Muir, chief executive of Impact Housing, said that the issue was more complex than simply getting the organisations to meet and see if they could run the refuge.

A spokesman for the Home Group also said that it is not planning to take over the refuge.

However when contacted by the News & Star, Helen Gore, Riverside’s head of supported housing, said: “Riverside successfully runs a number of specialist services supporting people affected by domestic abuse, ensuring people are able to safely leave abusive relationships as well as delivering interventions to prevent incidents of abuse.

“We would consider any new opportunities, particularly to prevent the closure of a service. Cumbria County Council has yet to contact us in relation to this service.”

Ian Stewart, county cabinet member responsible for public health and community services, previously said that it would now be looking to work alongside district councils to ensure that there is still support for those that need it.

Explaining the situation, he said: “Back in September cabinet agreed to reduce funding allocation to support linked to short term accommodation. We cut the budget from £2.36m to £1.76m a year.

“This is a function that is not a statutory duty of Cumbria County Council. We do it because it’s the right thing but our budgets have gone down so we have taken about half a million out.

“Previously we were funding it on a block booking basis and were finding that in some areas we were paying for services that were not being delivered – there were free spaces inside them.

“We were also finding that there was a facility in one part of the county, but not in another. We wanted to be more equitable.

“When money is tight we’ve got to look at that, so we’ve moved from being property-centred to person-centred.”