Proposals to move Witney's main day centre for the elderly have been criticised for putting finances first.

Oxfordshire County Council officers have drawn up plans to sell the home of the Elms Day Centre - a two-storey Edwardian town house on Church Green.

The service would be switched to premises in Dark Lane.

Officers said the move was needed because The Elms could not cater for growing demand. They said a smaller centre for the elderly and infirm, The Willows, already meets at the Moorlands Centre and the two should be brought under one roof.

The proposals, outlined in a report to Tuesday's meeting of the council's social services committee, have already been criticised by Ted Cooper, county councillor for the town.

He said: "This is being finance-led. There is no reason to close The Elms, which has strong ties for many frail, elderly people and for the many volunteers who have helped build it into what it is."

Officers say that a transfer to the Moorland Centre would require renovations costing £280,000, leaving a surplus of more than £100,000 from the sale of The Elms.

Formerly a working boys hostel run by the social services department, the Church Green building has been the town's main day centre for nearly two decades.

The social services committee will be asked to approve public consultation on the proposals.