Welshpool Day Care Centre remains in limbo
The popular and much-loved facility – named the Ann Holloway Centre - next to the hospital provided a vital lifeline to many elderly people and their carers until it closed two years ago, with the Town Council saying it was costing them £96,000 a year to run, which they could no longer afford.
The building is still used by the Meals on Wheels service, but calls have been getting louder for it to reopen, with the town feeling it has been left short-changed by a deal done between the Town Council and Powys County Council back in 2015.
Back then, Powys was looking to offload its day centres to local councils or any other interested parties with the threat that they may have to close due to budget cuts.
But Welshpool was the only Town Council to take up the offer in March 2015, and seven years later it is the only centre that has closed with Powys continuing to fund the others in the county.
The Town Council recently said that it was open to ideas of a partnership to reopen the facility, and Powys has said it would be happy to discuss what may be best for the town, but insisted it wouldn’t be reversing the 2015 agreement, which expired in June this year.
“The Local Authority is committed to understanding what meaningful opportunities look like for older people in Powys, including Welshpool,” a Powys spokesperson told us.
“We have no immediate plans to take over the running of new day centres in Powys. The Council will work to look at meaningful day opportunities and the role of the Council in facilitating these. We would be happy to work alongside the Town Council to listen to their ideas.”
Welshpool County Councillor, Graham Breeze, is awaiting answers to questions he has posed to Cllr Sian Cox, Cabinet Member for a Caring Powys, asking Welshpool to be part of a county-wide review and also adding that Powys should “explore all avenues to ensure this facility is re-opened for the people of Welshpool”.
In the meantime, the large elderly population of the town and its surrounding area still await news.
According to Powys County Council, the 2015 agreement involved:
· Powys County Council foregoing a potential capital receipt for the freehold of the building
· for Welshpool Town Council to use the site for community use only and if they wished to sell the site then it must first be offered for sale back to Powys County Council for the original financial consideration
· Powys County Council provided a one-off payment of £25k to Welshpool Town Council along with another £41k of related amenity/trust funds
· Powys County Council to support the Town Council with free DBS checks and staff training if required
· Powys County Council to purchase day care places at the centre and fund transport to the centre if required. This amounted to approximately £115k annually
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