A COMMUNITY group with ambitions to develop land around a Powys hospital have submitted a petition to the Welsh Government.

The Bronllys Well Being Park Community Land Trust (CLT) has been battling for a decade to transform land around Bronllys Community Hospital – the headquarters of Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) – into a community asset.

It hopes to create an inclusive facility on land they deem surplus at the site. To support their, it is lobbying the Welsh Government, asking for support to transfer underutilised land to the CLT so it can develop it into a community well-being hub.

A public meeting was held in nearby Talgarth on October 18, attended by Dr Chris Jones, the deputy chief medical officer for Wales.

“Our public meeting was well supported by the local community,” said Jacqui Wilding, chair of Bronllys Well Being Park CLT.

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“Dr Jones, together with his wife Natalie, provided a very informative presentation with a Q&A session answering some pressing queries about childcare, future health provision and shared care with clinical providers and their patients.

“We presented an update and brief overview of the state of play in regard to the Bronllys Well Being Park CLT and, because we have been stymied by Powys Teaching Health Board for so long, we have petitioned the Welsh Government in an attempt for our local community to be heard.

“The petition aims to ensure at least a fair hearing and lives in hope that the government and future generations commission policy of allowing community voices to be heard is actually undertaken in practice.”

The petition, entitled ‘A Beacon of Hope at Risk: Please Support Bronllys Well-Being Community Hub’, is online and available to view and sign at https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/245883. The petition is available to sign until April 2024.

The petition calls on the Welsh Government to: support the transfer of underutilised land at Bronllys Community Hospital to the Bronllys Well Being Park CLT Ltd for a nominal sum to develop a community well-being hub; encourage Powys Teaching Health Board to respond to community issues and concerns with transparency; and embrace the long-term objectives of the proposal, which aims to improve local people’s lives.

“The land surrounding Bronllys Community Hospital has remained vacant for over a century. It is at risk of being sold to developers,” the 700-strong group added in a statement accompanying the petition.

“Bronllys Well Being Park CLT has tirelessly worked to collaborate with Powys Teaching Health Board to explore the transfer of unused land for community development. Regrettably, PTHB has repeatedly failed to engage in meaningful discussions or provide a clear plan for its future use.

“Our vision is to create a community well-being hub in Bronllys, with (the hospital) as its centre, to address the needs and aspirations of our local community.

“It would set the standard for genuine community involvement. This proposal has garnered widespread support from the community, civic leaders and political figures.”

The main facilities at Bronllys Community Hospital currently include outpatient facilities, an inpatient general and medical ward (Llewellyn Ward), an inpatient adult mental health ward as well as therapy services.

The proposed campus would feature essential health services, comprising the adult mental health unit, ambulance station, concert hall, day hospital, pain clinic, rehabilitation and physiotherapy, services for people with learning difficulties, as well as other specialist wards.

The CLT also have dreams of introducing a cafe, shop, office, restore and repair shop, nursery, orchard, conference centre, shepherd huts, a wetland habitat and sports facilities.

A spokesperson for PTHB previously said that there is no land at the site that is deemed surplus to requirements.

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“The health board has been entrusted with a great privilege and responsibility as the custodian of NHS land and buildings for the benefit of the people of Powys,” a spokesperson said in October 2022.

“We are fully committed to the entirety of the Bronllys Hospital site for health and care purposes.

“No land at the hospital site has been identified as surplus to NHS requirements, which means that we are not in a position to consider a transfer to the land trust, and also that we have categorically no plans to dispose of land for commercial purposes.

“Senior managers from the health board have had frequent discussions with the land trust over the years. Our commitment to the Bronllys Hospital site was reaffirmed at a meeting of the board in 2019. In correspondence with the land trust since that time we have continued to confirm this position and that no land is surplus.”