ELDERLY people and their families in Witney have breathed a momentary sigh of relief after hearing an under-threat day centre has been handed a temporary reprieve.

Last year the town was fraught with concern the Elms Centre, the only council-run day centre for over 65s in Witney, would be shut down for good.

It came as Oxfordshire County Council members announced they were looking to save more than £60m from the council budget.

At last week’s crunch council budget meeting, members proposed savings in adult social care amounting to about £21m, effectively sounding the death knell for the centre.

Following debate and protest from the public, councillors decided to only cut £18m, keeping £3m so more work could be done to try to keep the county’s elderly centres open – providing a glimmer of hope for campaigners.

Witney county councillor Laura Price, a member of the council’s joint health overview and scrutiny committee, has been passionately campaigning to keep the Elms Centre open for months.

She said: “The proposals put in the first time were going to cease funding on all of our health centres and the voluntary day centres too.

“But we felt really strongly that we wanted to protect our centres, as they are essential to our town’s social services.”

During the budget meeting last week, councillors had an adjournment and came back to announce they would be putting a bit more money into the system to keep health and well-being centres open.

Mrs Price added: “This means there is money in the pot now, but we need to carry on finding a solution. It’s not a given that the centres will stay open.

“But this keeps them open long enough for us to be able to go back to the drawing board and find a solution.”

Chairman of the Friends of the Elms Christopher Moxon, from Witney, has had regular meetings with Mrs Price about the issue.

He said: “You could say it’s good news but we don’t really know how we will be affected. We are still looking ahead but we are being very cautious.”

County council savings for adult social care include reductions for elderly day services, transport to day services, dementia support, falls prevention and financial support for carers.