I didn't know about hospice laundry bill, admits Roger Stone

The Advertiser revealed last week that the cost to find a new service for the Broom Road facility would be an extra £18,000 a year, prompting campaigners to call for Rotherham Borough Council to foot the bill.

The row rumbled on at Wednesday's full council meeting when Cllr Stone made the admission.

“A number of us did not know we were doing the laundry for the hospice so it was a cost to them,”he said.

“In the current climate, most charities are struggling to raise funds. We should not have put an additional burden on them.

“We didn't know we were doing it for next to nothing anyway.”

Many people are still angry that the borough council, which was the only local authority in South Yorkshire to still run an in-house service, decided to scrap the scheme because it was losing £200,000 a year.

Cllr Stone told councillors that he hoped funding from NHS Rotherham could be increased to help shoulder the burden when the service comes to an end on December 18.

He added: “Discussions are ongoing with NHS Rotherham to knock off some of the costs, maybe this year.

“Fifty per cent of the money that goes into the hospice is from NHS Rotherham and they have an agreement with other health authorities over their laundry service.”

Tory leader Cllr John Gilding called into question the £40,000 quoted in a report to replace the boilers used by the service and £30,000 quoted for rewiring.

“I am doubtful about those figures,” he said. “Let’s do away with that sculpture at Brampton Bierlow, that would pay for the boilers.

“The public want a laundry service and it should be run by the council.

"I’m sure they would have been prepared to pay the extra £2 per load which is stated in the report."

Cllr John Doyle, cabinet member for Health and Adult Social Care, defended the decision, saying: “You can't just take money from one project and transfer it to something completely different.

“This service was losing £200,000 a year and was providing a service to 180 people. That just can't make sense.

“We are in the business of providing services to the vulnerable people in Rotherham at the most economical cost we can.

“The provisions we have put in place will provide a better service at a lower cost.

“You had the same argument with meals on wheels, now you are forced to accept that we were right all along.”

This week, campaigner and former councillor, Irene Furnell, called for the borough council to stump up the money.

She said: “It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong, we made our arguments and lost but I do think we should all now agree that the hospice needs help here.

“I would now appeal to the council to give a grant to the hospice to offset at least part of this £18,000.

"Come on, Roger, give then a happy new year and find them the money,” she pleaded. “If you did, it would be with the full support of the Council Tax payers I am sure.”