Save Our Bield group will take protest toScottish Parliament

Under the banner Save Our Bield, they also aim to mount a street protest outside the Scottish Parliament to make sure their message gets through.

Local residents such as Siobhan Duffy, whose grandmother is in Bield’s threatened Thornton Gardens home, argue care home resdients’ human rights are being compromised by the plans.

The protestors’ spokeswoman, Laura Owens, said: “We are all just ordinary citizens who are appalled that in a modern progressive Scotland, which has a government that promotes the ideas of social justice, that this situation can be allowed to occur.

“Our aim is quite simply to ask the Scottish Government to intervene to ensure that the homes targeted for closure, are kept open and the residents can remain safe and secure in the environment they have been accustomed to.”

The decision to shut the Bonnybridge home will affect 18 staff and 13 residents, including Laura’s gran, who has dementia.

Bield Housing has said it recognises the impact its closure move will have on residents, and that it will consult residents and their families.

Local MP John McInally said the decision “lacked compassion”, and Save Our Bield also has strong support from local councillors.