Controversial plans to close Manor Street Day Centre and for the 60 elderly and disabled residents who depend it to go to Tring and Hemel Hempstead for the service, were announced earlier this year.

Now the county council has put the land up for sale and John Cook, a former town mayor, is urging the community to try to block the sale to prevent the land being turned into flats.

Mr Cook said Berkhamsted is losing land and services which will inevitably be needed in the future for the town's aging population.

He explained: "When this happens it will be very important to have land available in the centre of the town on which local social, health and cultural facilities can be provided.

"But if sold off, this will be impossible- the sale of the public land in Manor Street would be totally irreversible."

He added: "The vital thing to do now, as a matter of urgency, is to stop the sale. There should surely then be a wide-ranging review of what is happening to publicly owned land in Berkhamsted with the prime objective of safe-guarding what will be needed in the future."

Supporting Mr Cook is Berkhamsted resident Helen King whose 76-year-old mother Josephine Lopizou has dementia and regularly uses the day centre.

She: "It's a real shame for the community. It's just another money making scheme for the council. We already have a shortage of parking and yet more flats will just worsen the problem."

In response Andrew Dawson, a spokesman for the county council said: "We are trying to handle the situation at Manor Street as sensitively as possible.

"We are developing alternative services. No-one will be moved from Manor Street until an appropriate alternative is in place.

The building has been put on the market, but any interested parties are not visiting the building during operating hours."

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