The proposals to shut the centres in Amble, Bedlington, Blyth, Ponteland, Pridhoe, Hexham and Haltwhistle are currently going through public consultation but there is widespread concern about losing this important provision for vulnerable residents.

For many elderly people it is the only chance they have to get out of their homes and also provides crucial respite for relatives.

Conservative group leader Coun Peter Jackson has come out in strong criticism against the plans which he says the Liberal Democrat majority have brought out to avoid more difficult budget cuts.

He said: "This has come about as a result of the Liberal Democrat budget proposal and rather than take the difficult decision of cutting central administration at the County Council, they went for a series of service cuts.

"This is a service cut that affects the most vulnerable people in Northumberland and obviously we are all concerned about it.

"I have spoken to Coun (Jeff) Reid (Lib Dem council leader) because I think it is important for us to keep on talking to each other when there is a real problem like this because that's the only way we work through it.

"The thing that I said to him was around the alternatives that were available in each of these seven communities and from where I see it and, from the people who have attended the public meetings so far see it, the alternatives for these vulnerable people are not at all clear if the day care centres are closed.

"We need to bottom out what these people's needs are and make sure that we provide it in a proper way and I'm fairly sure that quite a lot of these people will have an ongoing requirement for day care centres."

LibDem Coun Simon Reed said: "It was very clearly stated in the budget consultation that as part of agreeing the budget we had to look at the way we deliver this service and that this could involve the closure of several or all day centres.

"The Conservatives and Independents agreed to it, the only party voting against was Labour.

"As part of the local government reorganisation the Governemnt have asked us to save £30m this year in efficiency savings and there is no way with the best will in the world there is not going to be cut backs.

"Nobody considers cuts in services to be an easy option. We have looked at the management structure and reduced posts.

"Several senior posts have been deleted or not filled but we are not
going to find £30m worth of savings there.

"The reality is there is an increasing amount of elderly people in Northumberland, ahead of the rest of the country, and that has got to be paid for.

"Only about 350 people use day care centres and they are falling in popularity. Over 2,000 people are eligible but the majority choose not to attend.

"At the moment they have a choice of day centres or nothing, with a personal budget they can choose to pay for their care needs, and if they choose to stay with day centres we will do our very best to support them."

Coun Reed added that he was willing to listen to the views of all parties as long as they were realistic.