Central Bedfordshire proposes closing the 6-bed Evergreen unit in Ampthill and running all short-stay reablement beds from Houghton Regis. Comments close 2 November.
Central Bedfordshire Council is consulting on closing Evergreen, its six-bed reablement unit in Ampthill, and running all of its short-stay Step Up / Step Down care beds from the Redwood Reablement Suite at All Saints View in Houghton Regis. The consultation opened on 11 August and closes on 2 November 2026. (Central Bedfordshire Council, 11 August 2026)
What is proposed
Step Up / Step Down beds give adults short-term care and reablement support, either to avoid a hospital admission or to help them regain independence after one. The council currently has 14 of these beds: 6 at Evergreen in Ampthill and 8 at Redwood, a purpose-built suite in Houghton Regis. Under the proposal Evergreen would close and Redwood’s 8 beds would become the whole service. (Evergreen Step Up / Step Down consultation)
The council argues the real loss is smaller than the headline numbers suggest: the consultation states the change “would equate to a 2-bed reduction based on current and previous years occupancy levels”, because bed capacity has run ahead of demand. (Consultation document)
Why the council says it wants the change
The council says its Home First approach and community-based reablement now support more people in their own homes, leaving fewer people needing bed-based support and existing bed capacity “underused for years”. (Central Bedfordshire Council)
Councillor Mark Smith, the executive member for adult social care, said: “By centralising services at All Saints View it makes better use of a purpose-built facility.” (Central Bedfordshire Council)
Anyone receiving support at Evergreen when a closure went ahead would complete their planned reablement programme first, the council says, and it aims “to keep redundancies to a minimum” among Evergreen staff through redeployment. (Consultation document)
What it means for you
If you, or someone you care for, might ever need a short reablement stay, the practical change is geography: the service would run entirely from Houghton Regis, on the far side of the district from Ampthill, Flitwick and the villages that currently sit closest to Evergreen.
The consultation is open to anyone until Monday 2 November 2026. You can respond through the online survey, by email to consultations@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk, or by phone on 0300 300 8000, and the council offers alternative formats on request. Feedback will feed into the council’s assessment of the proposal before any final decision is made. (Evergreen Step Up / Step Down consultation)
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