Future Fit: Telford MP urges councillors to support fundraising campaign
More than £870 has now been pledged towards a campaign to mount a legal challenge against the controversial Future Fit scheme.
Telford MP Lucy Allan who launched the campaign on CrowdJustice has now challenged all Telford & Wrekin councillors to each pledge £5.
Pledges have been made by more than 55 people so far.
Ms Allan said £5,000 is needed to instruct solicitors to review the Future Fit process and get a barrister’s specialist opinion on whether there are grounds to issue a judicial review.
Today, she posted on the fundraising page: "An amazing 51 wonderful people have kicked off our CrowdJustice bid with £777 in just two days: today we are asking community figures to contribute.
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"We are inviting the 54 cross party councillors on Telford & Wrekin Council to each pledge £5.
"The council recently passed a unanimous motion at a special EGM condemning Future Fit. It has long campaigned against NHS management's plans and are to be congratulated for providing community leadership on this issue.
"The council is concerned about using taxpayers' money to fund a judicial review, even though they have considered it. This is why we have gone down the CrowdJustice route.
"This route allows residents to bring their own case using legal aid once we hit our target.
"We have had an amazing offer of support of matched funding for every £5 donation made by each of our 54 councillors. That's a total £540 extra for the fund."
Earlier this month Health Secretary Matt Hancock gave the go-ahead for Future Fit to proceed with Shropshire’s main emergency centre in Shrewsbury and an ‘A&E Local’ in Telford.
The terms of an ‘A&E Local’ have not yet been fully defined, although NHS England has suggested it would only be open for “core hours”.
Many campaigners fear it will lead to a downgrade of services.
The crowdfunding page can be found at crowdjustice.com/case/save-telfords-hospital-services-stop-future-fit
