Among the human cost of the local spending cuts being imposed on the people of Croydon by their councillors, the Croydon Guardian has this week highlighted the plight of a war hero in a Coulsdon care home.

There are 14 permanent residents at Homefield House in Old Coulsdon, which is under threat of the Council’s axe.

The Council says the home does not meet modern standards.

At a meeting held in Old Coulsdon last month, Councillor Margaret Mead, who heads up Croydon’s health and adult social care department, suggested that they favour closing the home and moving residents to other homes, saving the Council £761,000 in a year.

The loss of their local care home would lead to the death of some residents, according to the daughter of one of them, Dymitr Szawougo.

Szawougo is 86 and a decorated Second World War veteran. His daughter, Helena Gates, visits him almost daily to care for him and take him for walks. This would not be possible if he was moved to another home elsewhere.

“If my father is moved out of Coulsdon I think he would just give up on living,” Gates told the local paper.

“When my father found out he might be moving he was devastated. He was a war hero and doesn’t have a long time left.

“But he is happy, he has his friends, he knows the staff, he sees me every day.”