Fresh appeal to save Welshpool’s Wales Air Ambulance base by campaign group

The Save the Welshpool Air Ambulance Base has made a fresh appeal and the Court of Appeal will decide whether to grant permission for that appeal to proceed.

If permission is refused, it will bring an end to the case. If permission is granted, then the case will proceed to a hearing.

The group received the disappointing news in June that their initial appeal against a decision that would have led to the closure of the Welshpool Air Ambulance base had failed after a judgement in the High Court.

This followed an application for Judicial Review that was issued last year, with a hearing taking place during January and February this year. 

A spokesperson said: “This was an incredibly disappointing outcome, but this may not be the end of the road in terms of challenging the decision.  

“A further appeal has now been made and the Court of Appeal will decide whether to grant permission for that appeal to proceed.

“If permission is refused, it will bring an end to the case. If permission is granted, then the case will proceed to a hearing.

“From the outset we challenged the facts and reasons for change and questioned decision makers why they find it acceptable that 40 communities will receive a slower service and why it is reasonable to accept an increased unmet need in Mid and North Wales.  

“We believe that the proposals to close the Air Ambulance’s bases in Welshpool and Caernarfon were based on flawed information, and that the process has been filled with bias, misinformation, and misdirection.”

Plans to merge the two bases have met stiff opposition from campaigners who said the strength of feeling had only deepened, despite their failed legal challenge to stop it.

The Wales Air Ambulance has another two bases - in Dafen, Carmarthenshire, and Cardiff.

Each base has a helicopter and car but only Cardiff is operational 24 hours a day, the others run 07:00-19:00 or 08:00-20:00.

Plans to have helicopters and cars based along the A55 from 2026 would allow them to reserve aircraft for more rural emergencies, Sue Barnes Wales Air Ambulance Chief Executive said.

But Bob Benyon from Welshpool, who has been heavily involved in a campaign to save the base, said he believed Wales Air Ambulance were "just moving the unmet need from one area to another".

With no A&E nearby, he said the strength of support in the area was due to "the fact that we need a pre-hospital care system on hand, a few minutes away".

The charity argues that focusing on response times and the perception that it replaces a hospital fundamentally misunderstood its role.

The spokesperson added: “As part of the proposed changes, various ‘mitigation’ measures were announced, including additional road vehicles for areas of Mid and North Wales.  Whilst we don’t think these measures are in any way sufficient, we will also be holding decision makers to account on their commitment that no bases would close until these additional road vehicles were in place. 

“As a campaign group, we are continuing to pursue all avenues open to us to challenge the decision to close the two existing bases in Welshpool and Caernarfon.”