THE last resident to move out of Walton House care home for the elderly has said a tearful farewell to her home.

The council controversially decided last summer to close the care home, in Chingford Mount Road, along with five others to fund two new “super care homes”.

But the amount that can be recouped from sales of land and buildings has plummeted during the recession and the council has been forced to revise its plans.

The building of the two new care homes were taken out of this year's capital programme.

But the closure of Walton House has gone ahead anyway, and today 87-year-old Eileen Martin left her home for the last time.

Her brother Eric Edis, 83, of Oak Hill, Woodford Green, said: “She cried so many times in the last few weeks.

“She didn't want to go, there were so many tears it made me want to cry - she was so happy there.

"I would like to thank the staff on this sad day for making so many old people happy.

“It is a sad indictment of the Labour/Lib Dem administration that they have thrown these old folk out when they were happy there.

"We fought a long and hard battle to keep it open. I always said that my sister would be the 'last man standing' and she was that at the end."

Jean James-Shaw, who founded the Walton House Action Group, said the campaign to save the home is now over.

Mrs James-Shaw, said her mother Violet Worts' health has “deteriorated” since she moved out of Walton House a week ago.

She is also angry that she is having to pay a £400 a month top-up charge to home her mother in St Ives Lodge care home, in Chingford.

The council said there were not unlimited funds to re-home residents.

Cllr Liz Phillips, the cabinet member for old people, has always insisted that Walton House cannot be registered for dementia care, although this has been disputed by campaigners and councillors opposed to the closure.

Cllr Phillips has also said the “super care home” plans are still being discussed.

Labour and Lib Dem members on the council's overview and management scrutiny committee earlier this summer refused to back a Conservative motion calling for cabinet to re-open Walton House.