The chairman of Carnoustie Development Group has voiced “bitter disappointment” over the future use of Camus House.
Peter Burke claimed the asset has been snatched away from the community after councillors agreed five adapted properties would be handed over to Houses for Heroes.
He said the parent carers of around 20 adults with learning difficulties had hoped they would benefit from specialised homes to be constructed at the former care home.
Angus Council has committed to assessing the needs of residents with learning disabilities to see if they can secure a home at the site.
Mr Burke said: “We all know that soldiers wounded in foreign wars need support and help to reintegrate, but even if national government is failing to do this, our council, and our elected councillors, have a greater duty to support their constituents.
“Council officers and some councillors have been aware for many years of the unmet needs of adults with learning difficulties and their parent carers so much so that they admit that these parent carers save Angus Council in excess of £22 million per year by providing that care.
“As a result of the council’s behaviour these people face a bleak future, working to support their loved ones day in day out, year after year until they die no retirement cruises, no relaxing in the sun, not even a long lie on a Saturday morning.
“And after they die, what happens to their loved ones? Left homeless to wander the streets, or locked away out of sight and out of mind in a geriatric hospital with strangers until they too die.”
Camus House is being replaced by the town’s new Kinloch centre and will be repurposed as 12 council houses, along with five adapted properties in partnership with Houses for Heroes.
The council’s neighbourhood services committee last week agreed its demolition and 100-year lease for the new-build.
Carnoustie councillor Brian Boyd called for the development to cater for locals, but his amendment did not find a seconder.
His recommendation was to include five units for carers or those with adult learning difficulties at the site.
Mr Boyd said: “What worries me is that though the council has given a commitment to assess the housing and support needs of citizens with learning disabilities to see if they might become residents on the site, it is with the worrying caveats, ‘where practical and where resources allow’.
“The reason I went ahead with my amendment was to ensure Carnoustie carers had a lock-tight case in getting their community asset.
“Peter Burke is spot-on. Angus Council steal another of the town’s assets and hand it to a national charity without any consultation with the councillors, its community council or Carnoustie Development Group that is facilitated by the council’s own community planning team, so I too am bitterly disappointed that I did not get any seconder for my proposal.”
Neighbourhood services convener Donald Morrison said: “This is a great opportunity for us to build a dozen more much-needed one- and two-bedroomed council houses for rent, as part of our council house building programme.
“In addition, Houses for Heroes will be able to provide adapted houses in a central location, to assist ex-services clients to make a transition from military to civilian life and integrate into the community.”
A spokesman for Angus Council said: “The council has undertaken to look at all available options to meet the long-term housing and support needs of individuals with learning disabilities and to do so in line with the recently agreed Carers Strategy, which includes a commitment to developing an accommodation strategy for those with learning disabilities.”