Like other local day care centres, the future of the Anchorage Social Activity Centre in Pembroke Dock hangs in the balance while the cash-strapped County Council risks ‘putting pounds before people’.

It was only on January 8 this year that Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding Cllr Tessa Hodgson suggested that the Anchorage could be used as an alternative venue for clients from the closed Avenue Centre in Tenby. Following a budget confirmation in March, however, and the citing of a 2019 survey on April 4, the centre was slated for closure by the end of May.

On April 8, a letter was sent out to those affected and a meeting was held at the Anchorage on the 10th, arguing that the day care centre was ‘not fit for the purpose’.

Following contact from a number of concerned constituents with their fears over the proposed closure, Samuel Kurtz MS raised the topic with the Leader of the House (Trefnydd) in the Senedd.

He called for a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on the provision of adult day care centres in Wales.

The Pembrokeshire County Council-owned Anchorage Centre “provides a safe place for a number of our most vulnerable adults,” said Mr Kurtz, “with one family member describing it as a ‘family’ which could be split up if the Council’s plans come to fruition.”

Citing Welsh Government statutory guidance for adult placement services, he told the Senedd: “Family members of those who attend the Anchorage believe that the actions of Pembrokeshire County Council have contravened those regulations.”

Despite assurances made by Cllr Hodgson on March 7 that there would be consultation with all families, Peter Welsh, the parent of one of the service users, confirmed that between that date and April 10 there was no consultation. He was astonished at the use, instead, of an outdated survey, “five years and a pandemic later.” It was also becoming apparent that, with the closure of so many local day care centres, vulnerable clients would be forced to travel all over the county.

Peter voiced his concerns to a local councillor, who recommended that he start a petition.

The centre is still earmarked for closure, however, despite the petition having been signed by hundreds calling for it to remain open.

The petition, which attracted over 1701 signatures over the five week period it was live, succeeded at least in granting the centre a ‘stay of execution’ until a meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council on July 18, when members received two petitions calling for the council to reverse a decision to close day centres in Pembroke Dock, Crymych and Narberth.

Protestors gathered outside County Hall, Haverfordwest on the day. Users of the Anchorage centre in Pembroke Dock, the Lee Davies Day centre in Narberth and Bro Preseli Day centre in Crymych were among those protesting against the proposed closures.

At the meeting, Peter was joined by many of the service users in the public gallery at County Hall.

During the five minutes allowed, he launched an impassioned plea for the centre to remain open, saying of the service users: “They are a family, a happy group of individuals that enjoy being together in the safety of what they consider to be their second home, the Anchorage.

“They are effectively voiceless, we will be their voice.

“It’s an injustice; inexcusable targeting of the vulnerable. Please don’t use these vulnerable individuals as pawns for a money-saving gain.

“We may lose this battle today, but I hope not; they need your support. Just imagine if it was your son or daughter or grandchild being put through this uncertainty that is affecting their lives; you would feel the same sense of anger as us.”

To thunderous applause from the gallery, he finished: “July 18, 2024; for those in the gallery, today it is their day, their lives; yet it could be today that is also your day. Today we appeal to you on their behalf, today you have an opportunity to right a wrong.”

Councillor Hodgson said the service was moving away from being building-based and the council was facing immense financial pressures.

She said that was exacerbated by a last-minute cut in the 2024 council tax rise, from an expected 16 to 12.5 per cent, which had contained warnings of dire service cuts.

Along with this were building repairs costs of well over £300,000 needed , as well as a decline in numbers attending the centre, especially post-Covid, members heard.

Pembroke Dock councillor Tony Wilcox said a purpose-built facility, part of the nearby Pembroke South Quay development, expected to be completed in a few years, could provide a new home for the service users, asking they remain where they are until that was completed.

“I feel strongly that Cabinet should reconsider keeping the Anchorage open as it is, for a period of two or three years before the new facility opens.”

He was joined by fellow Pembroke Dock councillor Brian Hall, who had originally opened the Anchorage “many, many years ago”.

The final word went to Peter, who had disputed the building not being fit for purpose.

“It’s an old building but it’s still fit for the purpose,” Peter explained after the meeting. “Unlike the Avenue Centre, there are no leaks, and the Anchorage has not suffered any incidents indicating deterioration. It was confirmed by an official that no problems had been identified or reported.”

At the meeting, he concluded: “For the time being, keep the Anchorage going… Keep these guys where they’re comfortable and where they are happy.”

A report on the Anchorage Centre is expected to come before the September meeting of the county council’s Cabinet, ahead of any final decision.

Prior to the meeting, Peter sent a three-page email to all councillors, because five minutes was never going to be enough to say all that should be said.

He had the impression that councillors didn’t really realise who was being affected by their decisions. He reckons the sight of clients, parents and carers from local day care centres up in the gallery would have had enormous impact.

The campaigners are just parents or carers wanting to do the best they can.

Peter’s daughter has been attending the Anchorage Day Care Centre in Pembroke Dock for 14 or 15 years. She has autistic tendencies, so she hates any change but she loves her routine of going to the Anchorage two days a week. There she is supported to participate in projects and help out.

Equally significant is that she is one of three friends attending the centre who went to the special needs unit at Bush School (now rebuilt as Ysgol Harri Tudur) and then were at Pembrokeshire College together. 

If the Anchorage should close, and all the clients were encouraged to go elsewhere in the county, Peter maintains, “it wouldn’t work for anyone there. One has been there for 29 years, another for nearly 40 years.

“Councillors need to realise that they’re not just talking about figures, they’re making decisions about people’s lives; they can take it away with a stroke of pen.”

“We’ve brought it out into open… off a spreadsheet, out where people can see it.”