A weekly newspaper is celebrating after winning its battle to stop the closure of a respite care home.

The Monmouth Free Press has fought a high-profile campaign for the last four months to save Budden Crescent Respite Care Home in Caldicot, Gwent.

The paper launched the battle after an announcement by Monmouthshire County Council it would close the home – the only one in the county providing respite care for adults with disabilities.

And the fight was won this week after the authority’s cabinet voted unanimously to save it from the axe, with parents of those who used it thanking the Free Press for its campaign.

Free Press managing editor Nicole Garnon said: “In our view the initial decision to close Budden Crescent was flawed.

“Families were told there would be alternative provision, but not what that would be. Also the council made the decision to consult on closing the home before any alternative had been costed. The whole process seemed to us to be totally illogical.

“Further, this is a well-respected, much-loved and vital facility for carers to give them a break from caring 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for adults with sometimes challenging disabilities.

“The families of those adults were left in an appalling state of flux, not knowing whether the facility which allowed them a break, would or would not be there in the future.”

Within days of launching the campaign, it gained support from the families and those in the wider community.

More than 1,000 people also signed a petition against it and the paper ran regular stories criticising the closure plans.