More than 36,000 people have signed a petition to keep the Wales Air Ambulance base in Welshpool.

The information was revealed by Newtown County Councillor Joy Jones at the final meeting of the first part of the public engagement on the future of the base.

Attendance was once again very high as residents from Powys residents turned out again to make their feelings known about potential plans to close the base, that were broken by the County Times last year.

The consultation is being run Emergency Ambulance Service Commissioner Stephen Harrhy who is running which is looking at the future of the NHS’s Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service – the highly trained staff who man the Air Ambulance Service.  

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Cynthia Duce who is one of the organisers of the group to save the base said “There were a lot of excellent questions asked by the general public and questions made to Stephen Harrhy. Many referencing the comments that had been made in Machynlleth by one of the trustees from the Wales Air Ambulance charity.”

This references comments previously made by Wales Air Ambulance trustee Mark James which inferred that the service would be better if it was in a new proposed base on the A55 and that their final decision would most likely be very unpopular by the majority of the audience that attended Machynlleth.

This was the final Public Engagement Meeting as the process now moves on to phase two. This will see all the information analysed by Stephen Harrhy and the EASC team from the public engagement meetings, emails, and Online Virtual Meetings.

“Phase 1 has taken longer than originally planned but this is a complex issue and the emphasis has been on doing this thoroughly, rather than being bound by any arbitrary timescales," said Mr Harrhy.  

“I have been grateful for the constructive dialogue in all sessions - drop-ins, in-person public meetings, and virtual/on-line - which has been very helpful to me and I have appreciated the time and interest given from participants on this matter. 

"The passion for the air ambulance service from the participants is clear and there is a common goal here to make a great service, even better for our communities in Wales. 

“I committed at the outset of the process to conduct a full and transparent engagement and I hope that participants feel that I have honoured this throughout Phase 1.   

"I have been clear that no decision has been made and that listening to the public is shaping the way in which options, for the future configuration of the service, are developed.

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Mr Harrhy added that his team will now "work to develop a range of options" during the next few months, "all informed by the feedback to date as well as complementary data modelling".

“Once the options are developed, I will go back out to the public as Phase 2 for comment on these that will help me arrive at a recommended and preferred option.  I will then take this recommended option to be considered by the Emergency Ambulance Services Committee for decision," said Mr Harrhy. 

“I anticipate that Phase 2 of the public engagement will start in the autumn but as soon as confirmed dates and location details are in place for Phase 2, we will send out updates to stakeholders on our distribution list as well as publish all updates on the EASC website as we have done throughout the engagement.”