How we got here. What happens next.
The campaign to keep open Grisedale Croft is the latest moment in an eighteen-year story. Filter by campaign or change the order below.
Director's decision
The Director of Adult Social Care will take the formal decision on Grisedale Croft's future.
The Consultation has been extended
Westmorland and Furness Council (WFC) has extended its consultation on the future of Grisedale Croft Care Home by two weeks, to 19 August, and has corrected the information it gave the public. See the news article for more information
Consultation closes
The twelve-week consultation period ends.
Consultation drop-in, Alston Library
A consultation drop-in at Alston Library in the Town Hall, from 11am to 1pm.
Public Meeting about Grisedale
The Parish Council asked WFC if they would have a full public meeting for the whole community to discuss the Grisedale issues. WFC have agreed and the date is 16th July at the Town Hall at 6.00pm.Please come along, bring your comments and lets have a polite but firm response to downgrading or taking away our care home.
Consultation drop-in, Alston Library
A consultation drop-in at Alston Library in the Town Hall, from 2pm to 4pm.
Consultation drop-in, The Hive, Nenthead
A consultation drop-in at The Hive in Nenthead, from 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Consultation drop-in, Garrigill Village Hall
A consultation drop-in at Garrigill Village Hall, from 2pm to 4pm.
Consultation drop-in, Alston Library
A second consultation drop-in, at Alston Library in the Town Hall, from 5pm to 7pm.
Challenge to the refurbishment costs
The Working Group challenges the basis of the Council's published refurbishment costs for Grisedale Croft.
Read: Challenge to the costs of Refurbishment of Grisedale →
Further letter to the Cabinet member and Assistant Director
The Working Group writes again to the Cabinet member and the Assistant Director of Care Services.
Read: Further letter to Cllr Bell and Ms Phipps 11 June 2026 →
Step-down beds were never properly commissioned
A Freedom of Information response shows that the NHS-designated step-down beds at Grisedale Croft were never properly commissioned.
Read: Grisedale Croft — evidence from Freedom of Information →
Council agrees to a public meeting
Westmorland and Furness Council agrees to hold a public meeting on the future of Grisedale Croft.
NCIC releases the 2017–18 Alston Plan
North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust releases the 2017–18 Alston Plan in response to a Freedom of Information request.
Referral to the Information Commissioner
The Working Group refers its Freedom of Information request to the Information Commissioner, after NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board maintained that it holds no records of how the step-down beds were commissioned.
Consultation drop-in, Alston Library
The first of Westmorland and Furness Council's consultation drop-in sessions, at Alston Library in the Town Hall, from 11am to 1pm. The room is full, and residents set out the case for keeping Grisedale Croft on the Moor.
Letter on the Equality Impact Assessment
The Working Group writes to the Council Leader and all councillors about the Equality Impact Assessment and the public sector equality duty.
Read: Letter to Council Leader & Councillors re Equality Impact Assessment and PSED →
Statutory FOI deadline
The statutory deadline for Westmorland and Furness Council to respond to the bundled freedom-of-information request. The Council answered the five bundled requests on this date, releasing the Cabinet report, options appraisal, running costs and Equality Impact Assessment.
Read: WFC response to FOI-208440-2026 (Grisedale Croft bundle) →
Letter to the Cabinet member and Assistant Director
The Working Group writes to the Cabinet member and the Assistant Director of Care Services, setting out why the consultation should be reconsidered.
Consultation opens
Westmorland and Furness Council opens its twelve-week public consultation on the future of Grisedale Croft. The opening was delayed from the start of May.
Public statement issued
The Parish Council issues a public statement confirming the resolutions and naming the Working Group's remit.
Parish Council emergency meeting
Alston Moor Parish Council convenes and unanimously passes fourteen resolutions opposing closure, ratifying the freedom-of-information programme, and establishing a working group.
Read: Resolutions concerning Grisedale Croft passed by the PC at the Emergency Meeting →
Letter to the Cabinet member
The Parish Council writes to the Cabinet member for Adult Care, asking the Council to pause the consultation pending a joint review with NHS partners. Further FOIs go to NHS bodies including the Integrated Care Board, the local NHS Trust, and the Care Quality Commission.
Freedom-of-information requests submitted
The Parish Council submits five linked freedom-of-information requests to Westmorland and Furness Council.
Press coverage begins
Local press cover the Cabinet decision.
Cabinet votes to consult on closure
Westmorland and Furness Council's Cabinet, meeting in closed session, resolves to launch a twelve-week consultation on the future of Grisedale Croft.
Annual Plan acknowledges rurality
Westmorland and Furness Council finalises its Annual Plan for 2026/27. The plan commits to supporting people in the place they call home, commits to co-producing an Adult Social Care Strategy, and acknowledges that government funding changes have removed rurality and remoteness adjustments.
Westmorland and Furness Council takes over
Cumbria County Council is abolished. Westmorland and Furness Council and Cumberland Council become successor authorities. Grisedale Croft transfers to Westmorland and Furness Council.
Disappointment recorded by scrutiny
Cumbria County Council's Health Scrutiny Committee formally records its disappointment at the lack of progress on the 2017–2018 commitments.
Pandemic-era CQC visit
A Care Quality Commission visit to Grisedale Croft, conducted as part of a pandemic-era thematic review on infection prevention and control. The 2018 'Good' rating is carried forward.
'Most progress in Alston'
North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group publicly states that Alston has seen the most progress on enhanced community services.
Grisedale Croft rated Good
The Care Quality Commission's last full inspection of the home rates it Good in every domain. The inspection record notes the home will provide health beds as part of the Alston Plan.
The Alston Alliance Plan
The bargain is formalised in a written plan: enhanced community nursing, residential step-down at Grisedale Croft, day services, rapid response, retention of the hospital site.
The NHS commitment
Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust formally commits to use residential beds at Grisedale Croft as intermediate health beds — in exchange for the closure of in-patient beds at the cottage hospital.
Legal challenge by the community
Alston Moor League of Friends and the Parish Council, working with the community and represented by public-law solicitors, challenge the closure through lawful, formal channels. The challenge is resolved before reaching court on the basis of NHS commitments about alternative provision.
Cottage hospital beds close
In-patient beds at the Ruth Lancaster James Cottage Hospital close 'temporarily', citing a 59% staff vacancy rate. Beds transfer to Brampton. They never reopen.
Bed closures approved by the CCG
The Clinical Commissioning Group's Governing Body approves bed closures at Alston, Wigton and Maryport.
Parish Referendum
In December 2016, while the NHS Success Regime’s public consultation was still running, Alston Moor Parish Council organised a community vote on the future of the in‑patient beds at the Ruth Lancaster James Cottage Hospital. The vote was unanimous against the closure, and according to the formal Parish Council record was “well attended with a steady stream of people coming to vote all day”.
Sustaining health and care services in Alston
A multi-author proposal to the NHS Success Regime, with the Parish Council named as co-author. An appendix from Cumbria Constabulary corroborates Alston Moor's winter isolation.
MP endorses the Alston blueprint
The then MP for Penrith and the Border publicly endorses the League of Friends's blueprint document as exemplary for community hospitals.
Final response to the Success Regime
A formal joint submission from the Alston Medical Practice and the League of Friends to the NHS Success Regime, setting out an integrated care model for Alston Moor.
Alston Partnership Proposal
An earliest-known draft of a community-originated integrated care model. Grisedale Croft step-down beds are already designated as a component; digital health monitoring is already operational at the home. Structurally identical to what the NHS now calls a Neighbourhood Health Centre.
Residents accept change, not removal
Shaping Our Lives publishes the independent consultation report commissioned by Cumbria County Council. Residents say they accept change, but not removal from Alston.
The replacement that wasn't built
Cumbria County Council formally commits to replace Grisedale Croft and five other Cumbria Care homes with new dual-registered facilities by 2013, in partnership with Cumbria PCT. The replacement is never built.
Read: Proposals for the replacement of six residential care homes in Cumbria →
Inspection finds the home 'warm and homely'
A CSCI inspection visits Grisedale Croft on 7 November 2006. The home is found warm and homely, with no resident dissatisfaction. The building is noted as small but adequate.