The council's plans have provoked an outcry

The High Court has rejected an application by Relatives Action Group for a judicial review of Staffordshire County Council's Changing Lives policy.

The authority described the challenge as a "waste of public resources".

The action group's solicitor, Yvonne Hossack, accused the council of saying one thing in court and another outside.

There has been broad cross-party support for many of the changes Councillor Susan Woodward

The council has said care homes would move over to the private sector and residents would transfer without facing extra costs.

It had taken the decision as the extra money needed to deliver current services by 2010 could reach �31m, the council has said.

The local authority is planning to change social care services and has previously announced proposals to invest an additional �19m in new services over three years.

The council's portfolio holder for social care and health, councillor Susan Woodward said: "There has been broad cross-party support for many of the changes we are proposing.

"We believe this legal challenge has been unnecessary (and) fundamentally misguided."

Yvonne Hossack, representing Relatives Action Group, said: "What they said in court was these were political and budgetary matters and they were not decisions to close any facility.

"The reason why the judge ordered costs against them was because their correspondence and their literature quite clearly said something different."