CLARITY on what services will be offered at a new day centre service in Wallingford is urgently needed so that other groups can fill the gap, a councillor has said.

Lynda Atkins, who represents the town on Oxfordshire County Council, said many people still did not know exactly what the centre for the elderly and disabled would offer.

The centre will open in October as part of £3.14m of cuts, which will reduce the number of council-funded centres in the county from 22 to just eight, with Wallingford being one of those.

Ms Atkins said there was still too much uncertainty over what would and would not be offered for elderly and disabled people.

She said: "My biggest concern all along has been that trying to provide services for both of those groups will be a lot more difficult.

"If you are providing for someone in their 20s with a learning disability that is very different from somebody in their 80s who perhaps wants to become a bit more mobile.

"As far as I can see nobody really understands that and people do not know how it will work full stop.

"If the county council was clearer with what will be there that would allow the community to step in and help out to provide what will not be there."

The new centre will open in a building near Wallingford Library in High Street, which is being adapted for its new purpose.

Ms Atkins said she had concerns about how much space would be available but it was now too late to change that aspect of the plans.

The town has a number of other organisations which provide services for older people, including a Tuesday lunch club in the Methodist church in St Mary's Street.

Ms Atkins said: "We do have quite a bit in the local area that people can go to.

"What the social services need to be doing is talking to clients who have been using the services and looking at what groups are going to be left behind.

"The council will not be able to provide as much as what was there in the past.

"If there is clarity I just know people will come forward to help but we need to get more organised with that."

Sandy Tinson, chairwoman of the Friends of Wallingford day centre in Millington Road, said earlier this year there was uncertainty about how pensioners and adults with learning disabilities would be cared for.

She added: "It would be nice if there were more detailed plans available about what clients could expect."

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Paul Smith said: "The county council’s new service will ensure that everybody with an eligible need will get the care and support they need.

"This is planned to be a countywide service with an annual budget of £4.5m.

"People with different care needs will be supported in the same buildings and there would be a range of different spaces and facilities to meet different needs and interests.

"The plans include transport to and from services for everybody who is eligible for it or who chooses to purchase it.

"We are working hard to communicate with service users and that will continue and increase throughout spring and summer.

"Changes do not happen until late summer or the autumn."