The fight is on to stop beds closing at two Witney hospitals threatened by NHS budget cuts.

West Oxfordshire District Council has taken legal advice over plans to shut seven beds at Witney Community Hospital on July 1 for a year.

There are also plans to move 15 beds from Witney's Moorview Hospital, which treats elderly people with mental illnesses like Alzheimer's, to the Fulbrook Centre at Oxford's Churchill Hospital.

If this plan goes ahead the Elms Day Centre, Witney's main day care centre for the elderly, could be moved from its premises on Church Green to the Moorview site at Moorland Road.

South West Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust said shutting the community hospital beds was necessary because of "staff and resource pressures", but reassured patients that treatment would not be affected.

But the district council has reacted angrily to the decision, accusing the PCT of failing to consult it or the public. The council is now considering new legal action -- last year it used a high court challenge to force the PCT to drop plans to cut opening hours at the hospital's minor injuries unit.

Lawyers have advised the council the PCT should have consulted before deciding to close the beds, and it has written to the PCT asking it to think again.

Council leader Barry Norton said:

"When things close on a temporary basis, it's easy for that to become permanent."

Witney MP David Cameron, said: "It's absolutely vital we maintain proper services in our community hospitals, particularly as this is a growing area with growing needs."

Thirty-seven beds across the south of the county are closing in the hope of saving £25m. A PCT spokesman said clinical needs would be monitored, and the beds reinstated if necessary.

At the same time Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare Trust is considering closing the Moorview ward, which opened 11 years ago, to help save £4.3m this year. It said it will carry out a three-month consultation before any decision is made.

Richard Dossett-Davies, local Green Party coordinator and nurse for nearly 25 years, said: "Older people in the Witney area deserve better than this."

Julie Waldron, chief executive of the mental healthcare trust, said: "We would not consider any action which would have a detrimental impact on people's lives. No final decision has been made."

A public meeting will take place at the Corn Exchange in Witney for Thursday, July 23, at 7.30pm.