Telford & Wrekin Council backs motion urging Government to halt Future Fit

Its leader Shaun Davies put forward the motion during an extraordinary meeting of the council in Oakengates on Thursday night.

The motion said the council “condemns the Health Secretary's decision to allow Future Fit to progress”.

It said the £312m scheme, which would place Shropshire’s emergency centre in Shrewsbury and an ‘A&E Local’ in Telford, would “put lives at risk”, adding: “The decision made by the Secretary of State is simply wrong.”

“At this late stage we call on the Government to halt Future Fit.”

The motion also called on MPs to “use every parliamentary means” to ensure the women and children’s unit remains in Telford and its A&E is not downgraded.

Councillor Davies said there were 'no winners under Future Fit'.

He told the meeting: "I accept even at this eleventh hour the chances of getting the decision overturned are slim but we must try anyway."

‘Unbelievable’

Councillor Andrew Eade said the details and implications of what an 'A&E Local' is was not yet clear and called the motion 'ill timed’.

He also asked for the meeting to be deferred but was told ‘that’s not on the table’.

Councillor Shirley Reynolds called the Future Fit decision ‘unbelievable’ and said ‘lives will be put at risk’.

Councillor Liz Clare added: "I find it appalling that we have the population we have got, and a young population, that anybody could sit down and even have the gall to put some of this on paper.

"We marched to get a hospital. Now we are marching to stop it closing. What is this borough coming to."

The meeting was also told that the Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth had committed to scrapping Future Fit if Labour wins the next general election.