A councillor is “livid” he was not informed about major plans to transfer short break services for disabled adults from Beaconsfield to his ward in Aylesbury.

During Bucks County Council’s (BCC) budget scrutiny select committee meeting on January 10, councillor for Aylesbury West, Steven Lambert, said he was not told about proposals to move the service from Seeleys House in Beaconsfield to the Aylesbury Opportunities Centre.

The move forms part of council plans to slash £524,000 from its direct care and support services budget amid “huge financial pressures”.

Cllr Lambert also raised concerns the £4.5 million that could potentially be made from selling Seeleys House had already been factored into the council’s budget plans – even though the sale is only “speculative” while public consultations take place.

If the proposals are given the green Aylesbury Opportunities Centre would have to close for a year while a partial rebuild takes place before the service is fully transferred over.

The day service provided at the Aylesbury site will then have to be reduced in order to make way for the transfer of the new residential service.

Cllr Lambert said: “As the local member that covers Aylesbury Opportunities Centre I was frankly livid I was not consulted before that happened.

“I only realised when I read the cabinet papers it is going to close for a year.

“What kind of assurances can you give me, in cash terms, that the savings can be achieved, because the sale of Seeley’s House is speculative at the moment.

“We don’t know for sure we can sell it, and we don’t know for sure someone will buy it at that price.

“We know it is valued at that, but we don’t have those guarantees and yet.

“We are going to spend this money and have a service reduction for a year, and we are not going to provide that service elsewhere.”

However, Cllr Lin Hazell assured members she does not believe there will be “any trouble” selling Seeleys House.

She said: “When you consider the location of the Beaconsfield unit, I don’t feel personally that there will be any trouble about selling it.

“It is one of those things, we have got to do it. We cannot continue to deliver these services from this location.

“We have to do this. We have got people crawling all over the figures and we are reasonably confident that all of this will be achieved.”