PLANS by Welshpool Town Council to campaign for new hospital in Mid-Wales could have been torpedoed before it begins.

As the Powys County Times went to print,Welshpool Town Council were sitting down to discuss the strategy for their campaign.

Meanwhile on Monday night, Newtown Town Councillors at their full council meeting, have already said that they will not support the proposal which, as it would "raise people’s expectations unfairly" and is "impossible" to achieve.

The recommendation in front of Welshpool Councillors tonight comes from their Care committee who want to see the Town Clerk, Robert Robinson, write to each Town and Community Council asking them to be involved in completing a survey seeking support for a new hospital in Mid-Wales which would probably be in Newtown.

The proposal was brought to Monday’s Newtown Council by Mayor, Cllr Sue Newham, who had discussed the idea when she met with Welshpool Town Council as she helped out with the Keep Welshpool Tidy week

Councillor Joy Jones,said: “It’s a huge complex issue, it’s just not going to happen.

“You need to have consultants that cover every part of the body and they’re struggling with numbers in both Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury.

“How do we get them here?”

“I don’t want to unfairly raise the public’s expectations."

Cllr Jones pointed to a Health and Care Strategy that had been discussed by Powys Regional Partnership Board which mentions creating “Rural Regional Centres” which would bring together facilities that are provided separately at the moment, such as community hospitals, GP Surgeries, pharmacies, elderly day care centres, day care facilities as well as some facilities from District General Hospitals.

Cllr Jones, added: “It’s an exciting project that they hope for funding for next year, we should be on board this.

“I would love to fight for and A&E department, but we don’t have enough population.”

Cllr Richard White, said: “If you’re asked to take part in a survey, would you like a General Hospital, how many people would say no?

You need a population of around 300,000 to 400,000 for a general hospital, I don’t want to see us wasting time on this

Cllr Mike Child’s said: "We need to discuss this with Powys teaching Health Board and the model they are working for the future, and we need to go in that direction not against it.

Mayor, Cllr Sue Newham, said that she brought the issue before the Council, as she as a lone councillor could not decide whether Newtown would support Welshpool town’s council’s campaign."