COUNTY council officials today admitted they forgot to include fire safety sprinkler systems in refurbishment plans for 16 care homes for the elderly.

Work at some of the homes will be delayed while discussions take place with contractors and workmen will have to return to two homes already upgraded -- including Woodside in Padiham.

The anti-fire sprinklers will be fitted at a cost of £1.6million as part of improvements funded by the controversial closure and sale of 32 of the council's other homes.

Today, opponents of the care homes shake-up said the council's admission to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph was proof the authority could not be relied on to deliver good care.

The homes in East Lancashire affected are Woodlands, Clayton-le-Moors, Olive House, Bacup, Favordale in Pendle and Castleford in Clitheroe.

Four homes originally earmarked for the chop, but later given a reprieve until 2007, will not get the sprinklers until a long-term decision is made about their future. They include Cravenside in Barnoldswick and Lower Ridge in Burnley.

A report, obtained by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, reveals that despite regular letters from Lancashire Fire and Rescue calling for sprinklers to be installed in care homes, they were not included in the care home plans, announced in early 2002.

The refurbishment plans were revealed just months after a serious fire at Brookside care home in Ormskirk.

Fire chiefs had also called for the installation of sprinklers in all county facilities following a devastating fire at Gregson Lane Primary School at Hoghton, near Blackburn, in 2001. It was not until several months ago - after a spate of fires in county council care facilities - that officers checked if sprinklers had been included in their refurbished care homes.

The report adds that sprinkler systems are seen as 'essential' in care homes.

The need for sprinklers becomes even more acute because only the most frail pensioners will be cared for in the homes in the future - with more able pensioners being looked after in their own homes.

Coun Chris Cheetham, in charge of adult care at social services, said: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing and in an ideal world we'd have looked at this at the time. But I don't think sprinklers were in the headlines as much as they are now.

"I'm glad it's been spotted now so it can be built into the programme as best we can. They are now seen as essential, and the important thing the work is being done. We will try to minimise disruption."

Lynne Atkinson, who led the campaign to save all of the homes, said: "If it wasn't so serious, you'd laugh. This should have been thought of at the time. "

Coun David Whipp, leader of the Lib Dems, said: "It seems obvious that if only the most frail people are to be looked after in care homes, it is obvious it would hard to evacuate them."