Border villages deprived of Welsh services

Berriew, Churchstoke, Kerry, Llandinam, Llandrinio, Meifod, Llanfihangel, Trewern, Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant and Llansilin featured in a list of the top 100 most deprived communities.

Now councillors have called on Powys County Council to consider the impact on more remote communities when looking to reduce services across the county.

Llanrhaeadr had the worst access to services record, ranked in 11th, with Llansilin ranked 18th.

While there are primary schools in both Llanrhaeadr and Llansilin, pupils have to travel to Llanfyllin for secondary school. There is no GP surgery in Llansilin and no library, pharmacy or leisure centre in either village.

Aled Davies, Powys County Councillor for both areas, said he wasn't surprised with the rankings.

"There's been a lot of talk about local communities taking on services recently and everybody says 'what services?'," he said.

"Access to services is one of the key factors in our quality of life and the information published by the Welsh Government indicate that the Llansilin/Llanrhaeadr area has the lowest access to services in the whole of Wales.

"This doesn't come as any surprise to our communities - we have seen the last bank in the Tanat Valley close, the last full time post office is now under threat and the number of services provided by the local authority is about to be reduced further, not that it has never been that great.

"However we are blessed with excellent primary schools in the valley and our children go to Llanfyllin High School, one of the top secondary schools in Powys and Wales.

"Powys County Council needs to be very careful in the next budget round that it does not exacerbate the current poor level of service provision in rural parts of the county."

The figures were released in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, which is the Welsh Government's official measure of relative deprivation for "small areas" in Wales.

Following the 2011 census, 1,909 small areas were defined in Wales with an average population of 1,600 people. There were 79 small areas identified in Powys, with many sited along the Shropshire border.

Access to services covers the average travel time to a food shop, a GP surgery and pharmacy, a primary and secondary school, a post office, public library, leisure centre and to a petrol station.

Categories including community safety, housing, health, employment and access to services were ranked for the report.