THERE are fears Minehead's popular Seahorse Centre could be forced to turn away those with milder learning difficulties as a result of a controversial county council cost-cutting scheme.

In a move designed to save Somerset County Council £3.3 million in the next three years, the authority will keep overall control of services for adults with the most severe needs, while those with "less complex needs" could be given individual budgets to buy-in specialist help from private companies.

In reality, that will see day centres such as the Seahorse Centre being subjected to individual reviews to ensure they offer value for money.

Some will remain under local authority control, others could be "streamlined" and some out-sourced to private businesses.

Nick Batho, chairman of the Friends of Seahorses, said he was concerned about what the future held for vulnerable adults across West Somerset.

He said: "It is proposed that day centres like Seahorses should be emasculated and confined to looking after only those individuals with complex needs.

"The lower dependency service users, who currently derive the most benefit from all the Seahorses provides, could be funded to buy-in day services from commercial sources on an individual basis.

"This will inevitably result in more capable service users losing the companionship, motivation and mutual support which only a day centre can provide and lead to them spending long periods confined to their homes watching TV, interspersed by the occasional trip to the shops."

He said the county council had tried to justify its approach by claiming the needs of the wider community outweighed the needs of the individuals likely to be affected by the proposals.

"This goes directly against everything the coalition Government has said about fairness and where spending cuts should be made," Mr Batho said.

"People with learning disabilities, who depend on our unconditional love and support, do not deserve to be treated in this shameful manner."

The proposals were put forward at Wednesday's meeting of the county council's cabinet by West Somerset district and county councillor Christine Lawrence, who is the county's lead member for community, and the authority's commissioning group manager Mel Lock.

Cabinet members backed the report and agreed to press ahead with a combination of out-sourcing services for people with less complex needs and to use an "arms length" in-house approach for those with more serious and complex needs.

Councillors were told the "arms length" approach would split the county council's commissioning and provider functions, but leave the authority in overall control through contracts which set out performance and cost-saving targets.

A review will now be carried out to discover which services fall into which category.

A report by Ms Lock and corporate manager Miriam Maddison said: "In light of growing demand for care and the limitations on public funding that are a feature of the current economic downturn, it is more important than ever that we make best use of resources in securing the right mix of care and support service for people with learning disabilities.

"At the same time there are opportunities to secure better outcomes whilst targeting our spending at the right things.

"National evidence shows that by changing the shape of services, we can achieve more for less."

They said people should be encouraged to focus on "enablement and self-actualisation" rather being dependent on long-term care.

The report recommendations, which were compiled jointly with NHS Somerset, focused on the costs and risks involved with retaining the status quo, out-sourcing, using an "arms length" approach or a combination of changes.