Carers, parents and centre users have all rallied together after East Renfrewshire Council announced that one of two resource centres in Barrhead and Thornliebank would be shut.

This comes as part of the council’s drive to plug a £20 million funding hole in its finances by 2017.

In response to the announcement, the Friends of Thornliebank and Barrhead Centres was set up as an opposition group.

One of the most vocal campaigners, Iain Cherry, 52, has spoken out about how the closure could change the way his family lives.

Iain’s daughter Ruth uses the Barrhead centre five days a week, and this week he has thanked everyone for the massive surge in support the group has received.

He said: “We only started the petition two weeks ago and the level of support we have received from people who have connections to the centres and even people who do not is fantastic.

“It goes to show how much these centres mean to the people of the area and how utilised their services are.

“Both centres are full at the moment.” The group had submitted its own range of cost cutting suggestions to East Renfrewshire Council, which the council vowed to consider.

However the group has had no feedback so far, and they are becoming increasingly worried that the revamped services would be completely unsuitable for many users.

Iain continued: “Some of the suggestions have been to take the service out in to the community, with service users going on regular visits to museums and public places.

“But some users simple can not do that, many can not use public toilets, or go to the toilets safely themselves at all.

“In East Renfrewshire, there are only two taxis licensed to carry wheelchairs — it simply would not work for many people if they needed to travel to one centre or the other.” The centres offer carers some respite form the 24 hour job of caring for their loved ones with disabilities.

And Iain knows first hand that respite represents much needed free time for carers.

He said: “If it wasn’t for the centre, many people would be faced with the 24 hour a day, seven day a week task of caring for loved ones who can not be left alone.

“They need fed, changed, taken to the toilet, lifted in and out of bed — respite form this is vital.” ERC has said that it would continue to work with the group and service users, saying: An ERC spokeswoman: “We will be engaging with service users and their families to help redesign the service and we would encourage everyone to get involved. Our focus will remain on providing more flexible, community based services that will improve quality of life.

“The council has agreed that this saving will not be taken until 2017/18 and we will work closely with everyone involved during the coming months to ensure everyone is supported through the change.”