The county wants to close Henry Cornish Care Centre, Chipping Norton: its 14 council beds were a third full and cost £460,000 a year. Say by 21 October; Cabinet decides 1 December.

Oxfordshire County Council is proposing to close Henry Cornish Care Centre in Chipping Norton, and the public has until Wednesday 21 October to say what it thinks. Chipping Norton is about 12 miles north of Witney. The county’s Cabinet is due to decide at a public meeting on 1 December.

The council set out the proposal in a consultation on the future of Henry Cornish Care Centre that opened on 9 September. On Friday 9 October it issued a reminder that just under two weeks remain. No decision has been made, and the council says every response will be considered before a report goes to Cabinet.

The care centre is at Rockhill Farm Court, OX7 5AU, and is run by The Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT) for the Oxfordshire Care Partnership (OCP). The council owns the building. A second home, Townsend House in Barton, Oxford, is subject to a separate consultation on the same grounds.

What the council says is wrong with the home

The case rests on empty beds. The consultation document says:

  • the council pays for 14 places at Henry Cornish, which used to provide short term rehabilitation for people leaving hospital
  • between September 2025 and August 2026 those 14 beds were occupied for just under a third of the time
  • under its contract the council pays for the places whether they are used or not, at a cost of around £460,000 a year at the time of the review
  • the home has not been able to attract residents who need nursing care and pay for themselves, “despite several initiatives”
  • running costs are higher than at similar homes “due to the layout of the home and nursing costs”
  • there is “limited scope” to adapt the building

The council’s frequently asked questions, updated on 6 October, add two figures. Between 2019 and 2025 only 28% of council placements into those beds were people from Chipping Norton itself. Over the past 12 months the nursing beds were empty for 70% of the time.

The 14 beds have a history. When the home opened they were intermediate care beds for people not yet ready to go home from hospital. In 2015 the council consulted on moving them from NHS staff to OSJCT, as its release at the time records. From July 2025 the service was changed to more specialist care, including for people with dementia. The FAQ says that service “was unable to be provided at Henry Cornish within the council’s budget” and the beds “have therefore been moved to other care homes in Oxfordshire, including one in Chipping Norton”. They became council nursing places on 1 August 2025.

Six options, two homes

The council looked at six options for the 16 OCP homes, which hold 878 places between them. The council pays towards 508 of those.

Bar chart of care home places behind the Henry Cornish Care Centre proposal: 878 places in the 16 Oxfordshire Care Partnership homes, 508 places the council pays for, 148 lost if all six older homes closed, 84 lost if two homes closed under option 6, and 14 council places at Henry Cornish.
The places at stake under the options in the consultation document. Chart by Witney News
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The options were:

  1. keep everything as it is
  2. keep every home open but reduce the cost when a financing arrangement ends
  3. close two homes
  4. close all six older homes
  5. close all six older homes and change the types of place bought
  6. close two homes and change the types of place bought elsewhere

Closing all six older homes would cut the guaranteed places OCP provides by 148. Option 6, closing two homes and changing place types, cuts them by 84. The council’s review found that Henry Cornish and Townsend House “are likely to continue to have high numbers of empty places in the future”, which is why those two are the ones proposed for closure.

The FAQ is blunt that this is not a saving. Asked whether it is a money-saving decision, the council answers “No”, and says the money it pays for empty places “will be repurposed and used to pay for people with dementia to receive specialised and more intensive care than a care home place can provide”.

Staff, residents and the petition

The FAQ states that 47 members of staff work at the home. They have been placed at risk of redundancy and are being consulted by their employer separately from the public consultation. A six-week public consultation “meets statutory guidelines”, the council says, in answer to a question about why it is not 12 weeks.

Permanent and short-term moves into the home are paused while the consultation runs. If closure is approved, the FAQ says the homes “would likely close by 31 January 2027”. Residents and families would choose the new home, and anyone without family support would have a social worker and an advocate.

A public petition against closure has been started on Change.org by the husband of the home’s registered manager. The council acknowledges it in the FAQ, saying there “may be a difference of view” between OSJCT, which holds the contract, and staff at the home.

Two questions added on 6 October answer concerns raised locally:

  • Other beds nearby. As of 1 October the council “was aware that there were dozens of vacancies in the seven care homes between 1.5 and 7.9 miles” of Henry Cornish. It says it cannot share the exact figure. Its map of alternatives names Southerndown and Beech Haven in Chipping Norton, Enstone House, The Langston at Kingham, Tall Trees and Old Prebendal House at Shipton-under-Wychwood, Spencer Court in Woodstock and Madley Park House in Witney.
  • The building. It “will not be offered to the Home Office” for asylum accommodation. The GP service and the hospital part of the site are not affected, and the council says it will talk to the NHS about the space.

Asked why a purpose-built home only 15 years old cannot be converted for dementia or complex nursing care, the council lists what such a home needs: wide corridors, therapy and snooze rooms, dedicated communal space, level gardens and specialist staff. OSJCT advises the staffing “would not be deliverable on this site within the council’s price points”, and a major refit is outside the current contract.

Karen Fuller, the council’s Director of Adult Social Services, said in the 9 October release: “No decisions have been made. I encourage everyone with an interest in the future of Henry Cornish Care Centre or Townsend House to respond while there is still time and make sure their views are heard.”

What it means for you

  • The deadline is Wednesday 21 October. Respond through the survey on the Let’s Talk Oxfordshire page, by email to consultations@oxfordshire.gov.uk, or by asking for a paper copy on 01865 792422.
  • The decision is on 1 December. Cabinet meets in public and the meeting is broadcast. The Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee can call the decision in.
  • If you have a relative there, the council says nobody will be moved before the decision, and that the choice of any new home would be the resident’s and the family’s.
  • Chipping Norton keeps its GP surgery and hospital services on the site under the proposal. Only the care home element would close.

Witney’s nearest OCP home, Madley Park House, is not proposed for closure. The council says there are no plans to consult on closing any other home where OSJCT provides the care.

Sources