CAMPAIGNERS staged a protest to urge councillors to rethink “barbaric” cuts they say will leave adults with Autism isolated and at risk.

Haringey Council will close three day centres for adults with autism and complex learning difficulties in the next year.

But campaign group Save Autism Services Haringey (SASH) have fought the closures since 2014 and in a last ditch attempt, are calling on the council to revaluate.

They fear vulnerable adults could be left at risk without vital support from the Always Day Centre, in Lawson Court, Birckbeck Road Day Centre, Hornsey and Roundways, in Tottenham.

More than 50 people from SASH staged a protest outside the civic offices, in Wood Green, on Monday.

Head of the group, Mary Langan, said this would leave people exposed and alienated from the community.

She added: “Haringey council believes there will be no further government money so they have to make cuts, but this is simply not true.

“We want the council to stop and think again and not cut so drastically and so deep. The cuts are barbaric and will leave adult care services unrecognisable and people at risk of loneliness and isolation.

“The council seems to be determined to railroad through its cuts programme at the very moment when there is an opportunity to raise funds locally to save vital services.”

The closures form £70million cuts to Haringey Council’s adult social care budget.

The family and friends of those who rely on the centres want the council to consider a proposal by George Osborne to raise tax by 2 per cent to foot the social care bill.

The group say this funding could be used to keep centres running.

Jill Darnborough’s 51-year-old son Steven, who has Down Syndrome, has spent 33 years using day centres in the area.

The 73-year-old, who lives in Southgate, said: “I have spent 51 years fighting this council and now I have been told that instead of going to the day centre four days a week, Steven should go out into the community instead.

“What will happen is, he will end up sitting in the shopping center all day doing nothing, instead of getting the care and support he needs.

“That is why I am out here tonight, in the cold with my walking stick. I worry about his safety more than anything because myself and my husband are too old to look after him anymore.

Julia Wilkins, of Bedford Road, Alexandra Palace and head of Haringey Autism called the cuts “cruel beyond words.”

The 52-year-old said removing the centres would cause levels of disruption that could take, “months, even years” for adults with Autism to adapt to.

Cllr Peter Morton, Haringey Council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “These changes will help to create an adult social care system in Haringey that does more to promote and support individual independence, dignity and choice.

“They will see some care shifted away from institutions, giving more people the opportunity to live healthily in their own homes and communities for longer.

“At a time when demand for adult social care services is rapidly rising and the government is simultaneously making considerable cuts to our budget, it is absolutely vital that we radically change the way care and support is delivered locally, to ensure that we can continue to meet the care needs of all Haringey residents – both now and in the future.”