FAMILY of former residents of Risca's Ty Darran care home are angry nothing has yet been done with the building which was closed 18 months ago.

More than 14,000 people opposed its closure and friends and relatives of people in the home marched through the town and protested at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay.

The council announced it was entering a consultation period on the future of the home in January 2010. Councillors argued for the closure, saying the home needed £500,000 worth of repairs and refurbishment.

Despite a hard-fought campaign, which gathered public support throughout Caerphilly borough, the council voted to close the home in May 2010 and the remaining 11 residents were moved out.

The council said parts of Ty Darran were not fit for purpose. The 36-bed home, which had annual running costs of £444,000, was home to 13 people and employed 28.

Now, 18 months later, the home which was fought for by so many remains empty, a boarded-up shell. There has been no movement or progress on the site since it closed its doors.

June Price's brother John Lewis, 84, lived in Ty Darran for 15 years before he died. He was living in Belle Vue Park nursing home in Newport when he died and never knew the fate of Ty Darran.

Mrs Price, 80, said: "It's criminal when you think the people in Ty Darran had to move to another place, why couldn't they have left the residents there?"

Connie Watkin's mother, Irene Gough lived in the home until she died aged 100 in April, 2010.

Mrs Watkins added: "It's ridiculous, an eyesore all boarded up when it could have been a thriving place.

There was a big rush to get the place closed and they've done nothing with it."

A council spokeswoman said: "We are currently exploring a number of options for future use of the building and/or site."