ANXIOUS elderly residents in Hemyock feared they would be forced from their homes under changes planned by a Devon housing firm.

Westcountry Housing is struggling to fill sheltered accommodation at Old School Court and is considering the scheme's future.

Tenants were assured they will not be moved on but company officials may look to remarket vacant homes to non-dependent pensioners.

Liz Mackay, 63, said initial correspondence from the firm gave "the impression" residents had to leave.

She said: "They said they wanted to redesignate the building, it won't be sheltered accommodation and therefore we might be better off in a place somewhere else.

"I could move but I am just worried about the other two ladies downstairs who are 92 and 94. This has caused a lot of anxiety."

Friend Meg Paramore, who works for the Citizen's Advice Bureau, Tiverton, said people have come up with "conspiracy theories" as a result of the wording of letters from the firm.

"I did wonder if they had another agenda," she said.

Kay Rowlinson, Westcountry's neighbourhoods manager, said in a letter on Tuesday, August 24, that residents could remain in their homes for the "time being" but the company is of the opinion Old School Court is "unfit for purpose" and will no longer be classified as sheltered accommodation.

However, managing director Karen Ayling said at a meeting in Hemyock Parish Hall on Thursday that residents would not be moved unwillingly.

She said: "But the issue we have got when trying to let the scheme is that it is not as attractive to people over 65 as more purpose-built accommodation would be elsewhere.

"I must say there is always the element of rumour and sometimes a whipping up of views when you have potential change, but that is just natural."

Five out of eight sheltered flats are occupied and residents have access to two support advisers, Gina Veale and Yvette Cottrell, who can provide assistance in an emergency.

Smoke alarms and intercoms are available but Westcountry representatives said the scheme's remote location has made it "unattractive" for potential tenants.

Tony Sharland, head of asset management for Westcountry Housing, said: "The whole point is about the sustainability of Old School Court and the purpose of this meeting is to address the difficulties in reletting the properties as we can't have a building standing half empty."

Residents criticised the way the firm had been marketing the flats and that replacing the rotten windows was long overdue.

Louis Brooks, from Willand, who attended the meeting with his 94-year-old mother Hannah, said: "My mum lives in a ground-floor flat and the windows are in a bad state. To get people interested, you need to make it look nicer and you need to look at how you go forward."

Mrs Ayling said those who wish to live with added security may continue to do so but the remaining properties may be given over as 'retirement flats'. She said it would be difficult to decide who should be accommodated on the first or second floors and that a possible "lifestyle clash" should be considered when re-allocating the empty flats.

She said: "These units have proved very hard to let and when we have let them it has been to a person who, in an ideal world, would prefer to move to an old people's bungalow so Old School Court was the last offer they had.

"What we might have to look at is perhaps putting an age bar on the property as I don't think it is appropriate to let them to single young people."