Public meeting called over proposals to move Welshpool air ambulance base

Independent Councillor Joy Jones has organised the meeting at the Monty Club in Broad Street and is hoping people from across mid Wales will go along.

Among those who have agreed to attend the meeting are Craig Williams MP and the Member of the Senedd Russell George as well as Plaid Cymru Councillor Elwyn Vaughan.

The charity has commissioned a study into how its operations could be improved.

This says that closing the Welshpool base and moving the helicopter and rapid response vehicle to join the ones in north Wales, it could respond to more emergency calls not only across Wales but also in Powys.

But people in the county fear response times will be slower.

A petition created by Councillor Jones has already been signed by more than 8,700 people and a SAVE Air Ambulance facebook page has been set up.

Another Powys Councillor, Graham Breeze has urged politicians of all sides to join forces to fight the changes.

Councillor Breeze said: "There is massive unrest in Powys about the proposal to close the Welshpool base and it is great to see Conservative and Plaid leaders combining to voice opposition as well as Powys County Council asking for answers.

"We are also going to need the support of the Labour run Welsh Government and the Lib Dem party to fight this crazy idea.

"We had to fight to get this service and we'll fight to keep it.

"The people of Welshpool area and the whole of Powys deserve to know the whole data and reasoning behind this proposal. I'm going to take some convincing that the proposal won't disadvantage our residents."

A spokesperson for Wales Air Ambulance said the results of the analysis that had been carried out was that there are more effective locations for some of its resources.

"We are not always working at the right times to meet patient needs. The answer that came up time and time again, by any method of analysis, was to co-locate the resources we currently have on the edges of the country - Caernarfon and Welshpool, combine them at a single base location and, crucially, use those combined medical teams to provide an extended hours service more able to respond both by air and by road, with two helicopters and two road vehicles at their disposal."