SPACE used by a vital service for disabled people is to be cut to house Swindon Council managers.

The plan to house managers from the car parking team in the Shopmobility site off Islington Street has provoked outrage.

They are also angry that two permanent staff members, who have been running the service for more than a decade, are due to lose their jobs.

Shopmobility user Helen Penfold said: “Does the council really want to increase the number of housebound people in Swindon? Because that’s what it sounds like to me.”

At a heated meeting yesterday users accused Swindon Council of not consulting over the plans, which were due to be implemented next week.

Officers have now agreed to halt any work until further consultation has been carried out with the Friends Of Shopmobility group.

The news comes at the end of a week in which the council admitted it was shaving £50,000 off the subsidy for Dial A Ride, a transportation service for disabled and elderly residents.

Mrs Penfold, 59, from Rodbourne, said: “With what they are doing at Dial A Ride and cutting back on the space we have they are just discouraging disabled people from leaving the house.

“This is a really friendly place because of the staff we have here and I worry about what will happen without them.”

The facility is currently run by a full-time manager and part-time assistant and 60 scooters are lent out daily.

These members of staff are to be replaced by a manager and three part-time assistants, who will also have other responsibilities.

The idea of sharing space with Shopmobility has come about because the car parking team is moving out of its current Premier House base in order to cut costs.

The council had planned to erect a wall through a space used by Shopmobility for social events and as a waiting room, considerably reducing the space available to them. Although no consultation had been carried out with the Friends of Shopmobility the wall was due to be erected next week.

Nobby Swatton, chairman of the group, said: “I had heard nothing about these plans, then apparently there were workmen in here measuring up today.

“I’m unhappy about the way this has been done but I’m glad they have now said they will wait.”

Mr Swatton, 62, said he felt the service would be badly affected by an reduction in space.

“This place is just the right size for what’s here,” he said.

“We have people coming in here who need to transfer from wheelchairs onto a scooter and there won’t be enough room to manoeuvre if we have less space.”

The effects of losing the long-standing staff members will also be a blow to the users, according to Mr Swatton.

“They are so helpful and they know everyone who comes in here,” he said. “I feel very sorry for them because they’ve given so much and this is how they end up.”

Arthur Perkin, 65, secretary of the friends’ group, said: “I am pleased that so many people came to the meeting and we got out point across. I’m not sure we will be able to stop everything they want to do but it may stop things getting as bad as we feared.”