Susan Scorer said she would be disappointed if the council decided to axe services at Tangley Hall.

Mrs Scorer, 78, of Stuart Grove, Teddington, whose husband Colin was a regular client at Tangley before he went into residential care, said: “I am still very much fighting for Tangley to stay open as it is fantastic. I don’t think the council looked into it properly at all or looked at involving the voluntary sector, it seems to me it just hasn’t taken much notice of the [task group’s] report.”

Hampton resident Daniel Griffin, 67, said his mother-in-law enjoyed her visits to Tangley and it would be a shame for it to close.

He said: “It’s an excellent service, it really is. Nobody would have a bad word to say about it. The task group recommended it be deferred for a longer time but obviously the council is determined to close it. In my opinion it has already decided and doesn’t want to be told otherwise.”

Nan Bunn, 62, of Woodlawn estate, Whitton, questioned the adult services report’s recommendations.

Miss Bunn, who cared for her mother when she suffered dementia, said she could not understand the recommend- ation for closure when the task group committee set up to look at the viability of closing Tangley Hall recommended a decision was deferred while alternatives were considered.

She said: “The two centres of excellence thing only came up at the last minute and was not in the original proposal.

“None of us understand why to have one big centre is more advantageous to dementia sufferers. It seems to me the sort of decision that should have been made with an expert on dementia.

“I went to a public meeting [in October] and Councillor Urquhart made it very clear they were making this decision for financial reasons.”