SIR, — Having seen your article (Herts Advertiser, June 26), I am writing to you to express my concern at the potential loss of amenities for the residents of Vesta Lodge in St Albans. Like Mark Welland, whom I have not met, I have a parent in this care h

SIR, - Having seen your article (Herts Advertiser, June 26), I am writing to you to express my concern at the potential loss of amenities for the residents of Vesta Lodge in St Albans. Like Mark Welland, whom I have not met, I have a parent in this care home. The suggested plan is to remove one large public room used daily by the Vesta Lodge residents from them. This will be re-allocated to 10 Jubilee Centre users. All the existing Vesta activities that currently take place in two rooms will be crammed into one, smaller room.

I totally disagree with Herts County Council spokesperson's statement that "there would be no negative impact on the care provided at Vesta Lodge".

Vesta Lodge has created an admirable facility with their coffee lounge in the larger room. This has significantly enhanced the quality of life for its residents and, importantly, their visitors. This has contributed greatly to the sense of community in the home. The activities in this room take place concurrently with those in the smaller room as can be seen in the Vesta monthly calendar. If the larger room is taken away from the residents there would be a significant impact on the quantity and scale of the activities available to them. As a regular visitor I can assure you that it is nonsense to suggest that there will be no negative impact.

I am sending a letter summarising many of the activities that I believe will suffer in a letter to Quantum Care and Adult Care Services.

The decision-makers need to consider carefully whether the benefits of placing 10 Jubilee Centre users in the coffee lounge justify the resulting detrimental impact on the quality of life of the 60 Vesta Lodge residents in their "home".

ROY EDGAR,

Beechwood Avenue, St Albans.