Abergavenny: Campaigners hope to run day centre for adults with learning disabilities
Campaigners fighting to save a day centre for vulnerable adults in Abergavenny are hoping they will now be given the chance to take it over themselves.
It comes as Monmouthshire County Council's cabinet put on hold closure plans for Tudor Centre to enable further talks to take place over its future.
ITV News Wales reported on family and friends of users holding a peaceful protest outside the centre, to highlight their plight, at the end of July.
Since then, the group has been gaining further support including off Welsh actor Michael Sheen.
Last month, he read out a poem written within the campaign group and shared the video on X, formerly Twitter, which had more than 240,000 views.
A decision was due this week over the base of the local authority's My Day, My Life support service in Abergavenny at the town's Melville Centre.
Prior to the Covid pandemic, the Tudor Centre had been home to the service that started in 2014.
Before that, it was used as a support and activity base for adults with various disabilities, would have been permanently closed.
However, at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday evening, 11 October, Cllr Ian Chandler, who is responsible for social care, said he would ask the cabinet to instead agree to defer any decisions on the Tudor Centre for further talks to take place.
The Green Party councillor said: "I would ask you to pause any decision so further consultations can take place with stakeholders who want to develop their own service in the area."
That decision has been welcomed by Owen Lewis from The Gathering community group, he said: "I'm pleased Ian Chandler from Monmouthshire County Council is supporting us in our bid to get The Gathering into Tudor Street.
"However we don't have a timescale at the moment. We are working with MCC officers and GAVO to develop our bid."Our community group will support vulnerable adults and other members of the community in a safe, accessible and welcoming environment.
"It will provide a range of activities and opportunities. We have started fundraising and set up a GoFundMe page."
The cabinet report recommended establishing the My Day, My Life support base at the Melville.
It would have required £135,000 to be spent by the council to improve access and bring it up to standard.
It was a cheaper option than the Tudor Centre or the Abergavenny Community Centre that was also shortlisted.
Cllr Chandler said in making the recommendation he and social services officers wanted to ensure the decision of where to locate My Day, My Life would not have a "detrimental effect on other nearby community spaces".
But he said the council now wants to "further test that" as it holds talks with those who want to maintain Tudor Street, which was closed at the start of Covid lockdown in March 2020.
The building never reopened.
In November last year, a cabinet decision was taken, but later paused, to permanently close the building and sell it for affordable housing.
The campaign to save and reopen the centre started after the decision, made without consultation.
It was further boosted in April when an ongoing review of My Day, My Life found users wanted a base to meet with others and which was there own, contradicting the social services department's view that day centre's were "outdated".
The council's Labour leader, Cllr Mary Ann Brocklesby, said she wanted talks to come to a conclusion "in a short period of time" to enable any proposed decisions to come back to the cabinet.
Conservative opposition leader, Cllr Richard John, said he was "pleased" the cabinet was putting its decision making on hold "even at the 11th hour".
He said: "I welcome the decision to pause, I don't think it's ever a sign of weakness to stop, pause and reconsider particularly in the face of the level of opposition within the community."
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