A Government U-turn means a Birkenshaw care home need not have been shut and demolished, local councillors say.

All that remains of Threelands Grange in Bradford Road is a pile of bricks and rubble as the site is cleared for a new development to begin.

Kirklees Council announced the closure of the long-established home as part of cutbacks brought about by the introduction of new standards for care homes in the Care Standards Act 2000.

But the Government has made a U-turn on the policy. Secretary of State for Health, Alan Milburn, told the Commons that the Government had now decided to consult on the regulations and issue a new set of rules that will not be essential for existing homes. All that will now be required is for homes to state whether they do or do not comply with the new standards, and let would-be residents make their own decision.

"The size of rooms and doors, the availability of single rooms and the number of lifts and baths are important, but they should not mean good local care homes having to close," he told MPs.

Kirklees Council could not afford to invest sufficient funds to ensure that Threelands complied with the new requirements - now abolished - despite having until 2007 to do so.

In the face of opposition from the local community, the families of those who lived in the home and three Conservative ward councillors, the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups voted to close down the home. The site has now been sold to a company that is to build a new privately-run residential care facility.

Birkenshaw councillors Andrew Palfreeman, Brian Snelson and Robert Light campaigned to keep the home open. They reacted with anger at the Government's change of policy.

Councillor Palfreeman said: "Threelands was a good, well-run home. Those who lived in it were happy to be there."

Councillor Snelson added: "I saw at first-hand the effect that the closure had on the residents. Had they known that 12 months later it would transpire that it would all be in vain, they would have been distraught. They have been uprooted and the team of carers disbanded for what now appears to be nothing."

But Spen MP Mike Wood claimed the three Birkenshaw councillors were confused.

"The closure of Threelands Grange was entirely to meet a short-term budget deficit on the part of Kirklees and they know that," he said. "It was to do with finding £650,000 overspent in the Social Services budget."