CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save the Jubilee Centre have been given a glimmer of hope by the key politician who could save it.

Yesterday, a group of family carers met county councillor Sally Newton, the cabinet member responsible for adult social services, begging her not to close the disabled people's centre in Catherine Street, St Albans.

Mervyn Richards of Marshalswick, whose wife Lynette is dumb and crippled through multiple sclerosis, said: "Sally Newton made some interesting noises.

"From the point of view of the Adult Care Services department, it is a done deal - they say it is obvious it has to close.

"But it is not a done deal for the councillors.

"I hope we have given her enough information to go away and think about it."

He and other carers argued it was far from clear how the services such as exercise and speech therapy could be provided elsewhere, and their relatives had not been properly interviewed about the closure.

And they told Councillor Newton how the Jubilee Centre provided not just therapy but a crucial social lifeline, without which some users might give up the will to live.

The council's cabinet will decied the fate of the centre on February 18.