New day opportunities trial to commence

Hafan yr Afon will play host to a new county council trial of expanded older people's day opportunities in Newtown.

The move comes after years of campaigning from local politicians including the town council to re-open the day centre, which was well utilised in previous years. The service stopped operating in Newtown as part of the pandemic and has failed to get back up and running again, hampered by the lease of the Day Centre building in Park Street to Powys Teaching Health Board for use as a vaccination centre.

The County Council held a series of workshops last year seeking views on day opportunities across the county and how these might be delivered in the future.

The new trial for the day services in Newtown will take place every Thursday at Hafan yr Afon, situated next to Back Lane Car Park and will run from 9:30am till 3:30pm.

The news of a new service was released on social media by county councillor Joy Jones, who expressed her excitement that services were resuming in Newtown. We reached out to the county council for a statement in response to this and a spokesperson for Powys County Council said:

“Late last year, the council carried out a county-wide engagement exercise to find out what kind of day opportunities people want and need, and how their needs and aspirations might best be met.

"The information gathered is now being used to develop potential options for day opportunities, across the county, bespoke to individual communities."

“The new provision in Hafan yr Afon is one day a week starting this week for older adults. It was an opportunity that presented itself which fitted with the feedback we had from people in the Newtown area so the council is trialling it whilst awaiting the outcome of the day opportunities review."

“Cabinet will consider the day opportunities review in the Autumn.”