Report by Eddie Bicknell – Local Democracy Reporter
Multiple bids to buy a Derbyshire council care home which will be closed this summer have been rejected, even after its sale fell through before Christmas.
Derbyshire County Council – run by Reform UK – announced in December that the prospective sale of eight of its care homes had failed after extensive discussions.
This would have brought an end to the process of the council handing over the care homes – with no residents to be moved or left effectively homeless – following a decision from the former Conservative administration in 2024.
Due to the prospective sale falling through all eight care homes are to be closed, with residents and their families left with no choice but to find new places to live.
The council explains in its budget documents that the eight care homes will close in July, saving £11.4 million a year, when combined with the closure of five day centres.
However, a prospective buyer of one of the affected care homes, The Grange, in Southgate, Eckington, has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he has had multiple approaches directly rebuffed by the council’s chosen agent.
That prospective buyer is Matt Davison, who lived and was raised in Eckington, who now owns a care home 1.7 miles away in the nearby Sheffield suburb of Halfway, among other business ventures.
Mr Davison, aged 53, who has owned the Rose Cottage care home in Station Road, Halfway, since 2017, said he approached the council’s agent about The Grange last year.
He said his offer was rebuffed on the basis that the council only wished to sell all eight homes to one buyer.
Mr Davison approached again in November and was told the sale was progressing to one buyer of all eight homes.
Following the collapse of this sale in December, Mr Davison again approached the agent, saying he would be able to keep the home open and allow existing residents to stay put, but claims to have been told “they don’t want to converse at all, they want to close the home and just sell it as a vacant home”.
He said: “It is very disappointing. I can’t understand the rationale for it, if I’m honest, I would have thought the home was worth more as a going concern instead of just a vacant property.
“I grew up in Eckington and actually lived on Southgate, opposite the home, and it just seems a shame to me to, after all these years, close it, instead of looking at alternative options to keep it open and viable.”
Mr Davison said that as a teenager he used to sit and chat to the then residents of The Grange and attended Eckington School.
He said: “I am very happy to talk to the council if they want to do so but I can’t force them to do it.
“Not all residents want to be in a purpose-built care home that resembles more of a hospital than a home, we certainly get there at Rose Cottage. We are not a national provider or a big company and I think we could do a good job of it.
“I would still consider buying it when it is vacant.
“People there will lose their jobs, some of them which have worked there for years, and it just seems a shame when it can be kept going.
“It has been an institution in Eckington and it would be a shame to close it when there are options open.”
Dianne Franks’ mum, Mary Biggin, lived at The Grange for nearly two years before passing away aged 90 in March 2025, having previously been a beloved landlady of the Victoria Inn and Red Lion, in Chesterfield, along with three further pubs in Sheffield.
Speaking to the LDRS in June 2024, Mrs Biggin, a mother of three who has four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, had said she felt “sick” at the proposed closure, saying: “It is as if a dark cloud is hanging over the place now.”
This week, Ms Franks said: “I am so thankful she is not here to go through that again. Everybody loved her there.
“It is also terrible for the staff, they don’t deserve it.”
She claimed council officials left it to care home managers to inform staff about the closure, dubbing this “cowardly”.
Ms Franks, aged 65, a former nurse manager from Chesterfield, claimed that just as with the initial closure consultations in early 2024, many staff found out, or uncovered more detail, as they read out letters to residents.
She said the claim that the council has held the welfare of families and residents front and centre “cannot be believed” and was “just ridiculousness”.
Hearing of the remaining prospective local buyer, Mr Davison, and the council’s rejection, she described it as “criminal”, saying: “This man is sitting there with a chequebook in his hands.”
Ms Franks said multiple residents had already moved to alternative facilities and that assistance with this process had been lacking and felt rushed.
The LDRS asked the council to respond to the claims about the local prospective buyer, that the care home is to be sold as a vacant facility, about the information given to staff and the impact on Ms Franks’ now deceased mother.
It did not directly respond to the questions asked but instead issued a statement on the general issue of care home closures, attributed to Cllr Joss Barnes, cabinet member for adult care.
Cllr Barnes said: “The council is unable to continue operating the homes for the reasons set out in the November 2024 cabinet report, including the continued costs of operating the homes and the redesign of residential care to provide specialist services including specialist dementia residential care with integrated day services and respite care.
“We understand how upsetting this news has been for families and we are disappointed for all our residents, families and care colleagues. It is our statutory duty to ensure people’s care and support needs are met and we will ensure everyone is supported to find a suitable new home.
“We will work with residents and families to ensure the transition plan is as robust as possible, understanding individual needs and ensuring a smooth handover to any new provider.
“Our central review team is working closely with residents and families to support through the whole process, at a pace that suits those involved.
“Our priority is the residents’ wellbeing, which is important to us, and we aim to reduce the impact of the moves as much as we possibly can.
“Once residents are settled in their new homes, our property department will follow established due process to determine if the property can be repurposed or disposed of.
“We are working with care staff affected by the closures, including exploring redeployment opportunities with the aim of keeping as many colleagues as possible.”
Left to right: Janet Pearson, Mary Biggin and Dianne Franks in The Grange Care Home in Eckington. Photo by Eddie Bisknell.
