One of Scotland's leading charities for people with learning disabilities has defended its involvement in a controversial plan by Glasgow City Council to close three day centres.

The council's executive committee confirmed yesterday it intends to close the three centres for people with learning disabilities, leaving just four day centres across the city, and withdrawing a service from about 320 people who previously used it.

Social care chiefs have insisted those affected will get a better service as a result, with the funds saved being used to help ensure more personalised support.

The council has also said it will work with people with learning disabilities and their carers using an innovative Public Social Partnership (PSP) to ensure replacement services are acceptable to them. It will organise the partnership jointly with the learning disability charity Enable Scotland and said it would listen to concerns.

However, the plans were comprehensively rejected at a public meeting attended by at least 200 people, where many of those affected were sceptical about the PSP proposal.

Now the council's own carers' champion, Dr Chris Mason, has written to the chief executive of Enable Scotland, Peter Scott, warning him of discontent with the plan and the charity's role which was voiced at the public meeting.

Dr Mason, who was appointed by councillors to represent carers last autumn, claimed the partnership plan had not been received with enthusiasm, adding: "I think the majority saw it as a device to deliver the closure of day centres and carers were critical of Enable Scotland for promoting the idea."

He added that while he had urged carers to engage with the council's plan and try to make it work, he feared they would refuse. "If carers refuse to participate in the PSP I am not sure how Enable Scotland's main objective for the project – empowering carers and people with learning disabilities – is to be achieved," he said.

The former LibDem councillor added that if the council made a decision about closing the three centres before the partnership plan had a chance to consider alternatives, it would be a "real obstacle" to successful service redesign.

After that decision was confirmed yesterday, opposition SNP social care spokeswoman Susan Aitken said it was wrong and short-sighted. She added: "Wrong, because service users in their hundreds have made it clear they want to continue attending day centres and will now be denied that choice. Short-sighted, because the additional strain this will put on carers and service-users will lead to increased need and increased work for social care services."

Meanwhile, SNP MSP Bob Doris called for such decisions to be subject to ministerial review. He said: "If this was a school closure, I am sure the Scottish Government would seriously consider calling in the decision, but when it comes to our learning disabled communities no such power would appear to exist. I consider this a worrying legislative gap which I would like to see urgently addressed."

A spokeswoman for Enable Scotland said although the charity had proposed the PSP model to the council, this was not linked to a decision to confirm the day centres would close.

She added: "The PSP is designed specifically to ensure the voices of carers and people who use the day centres are at the centre of the decision-making process, independent of the council decision on the closure of day centres. We will soon be talking to carers and people who use the day centres to ask how their views can best be heard within the PSP framework."