UNDER-THREAT day centres in Machynlleth and Llanidloes should be safe from closure until 2018, a Powys County Council Cabinet member has said.

It was reported in the Cambrian News in August that the county council was carrying out a public consultation into the future of adult day care services, putting Machynlleth’s Crossroads service and Llanidloes’ Maesywennol Day Centre under threat.

But, just in time for Christmas, Powys County Council’s Cabinet member for adult services, Cllr Stephen Hayes, said on Monday that he would be recommending to Cabinet later this month that all existing day centres across Powys be funded for 2017/18.

Cllr Hayes said: “It’s clear from the consultation that day centres are highly valued and play a particularly important role in terms of respite for carers.

“We also need to demonstrate that a new service really will meet needs before day centre closures begin. I will, therefore, be recommending to Cabinet that extra money is made available in 2017/18 to allow day centre activity to continue in existing localities while an early intervention service is trialled and evaluated."

But Cllr Hayes said that it would be up to individual councillors whether to accept a rise in council tax in order to prevent immediate closures of day centres.

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