LLANIDLOES Town Council has pledged £10,000 to support the town’s day centre over the next year.

The money will go some way to filling a £180,000-shaped hole in its funding for the 2017/18 financial year, due to Powys County Council (PCC) reducing its county-wide day centre budget from £1.5 million to £1.1 million.

The donation was agreed by town councillors at a meeting on Monday evening.

Mayor Cllr Phyl Davies told the meeting that the apparent 12-month reprieve for day centres decided at PCC’s December cabinet meeting was not what it seemed.

The service would only continue if PCC was convinced the town council could work on a viable business plan to deliver a new, modern service from April 2018, and the town council would need to show its full support for the continuation of the current service until then.

He said: “We arranged a meeting with Dominique Jones from Powys County Council last Monday and we were told that to maintain the current level of service we are going to need to provide some support.

“There is no guarantee at this minute that it will continue into 2017/18.

“Everybody was given the impression that it was going to be a reprieve for 12 months. It was never that.

“For us to secure the service as it is for the next 12 months, we need to say we want to work with Powys and provide a new service from April 2018. We need to be up front and say we will support them in this.”

He then proposed a £10,000 donation.

Cllr Gareth Morgan supported the mayor’s proposal, saying: “If we don’t help them out it will fall down to about three days a week.

“It’s going to hit the service really badly and a lot of people are going to be left out.

“It’s terribly important to try and donate something to help keep it going.”

Cllr Margot Jones agreed, saying: “I was under the impression that we had won and it was utter nonsense.

“It is important that we show we are committed and we have to show it in financial terms.”

Cllr Davies said he hoped the town council would not have to pay the whole £10,000 itself, as nearby community councils would be asked to contribute.

He added he was confident they would step up to support the day centre, due to their willingness to help the town council fund the library/museum along with PCC when it was agreed that it would be jointly delivered.

“We have had letters back in support of the library from some community councils,” said Cllr Davies.

“We as a council can’t continue to provide these services that are used by a wider area. But I don’t think it will come to that. I can’t see them not agreeing to support it.

“There are some services in our communities that people will bend over backwards to support. This is one. I don’t think that, currently, there is a more worthy cause in the town.”

Councillors voted to approve the donation.