A war of words continues to be waged over the Arosfa Day Centre in Brecon.
At Thursday’s (January 24) full meeting of Powys council, the argument which is over the precise wording of whether Arosfa was under threat or not, erupted in the chamber.
Cabinet member for Adult Services Cllr Stephen Hayes refuted allegations that he had misled members over the day care centre’s future.
He went on to accuse the Labour Group leader Cllr Mathew Dorrance of being “irresponsible” for arguing that closure had been considered.
This followed an attack on Cllr Dorrance by Cllr Iain McIntosh, county councillor for Yscir near Brecon, who wanted Cllr Dorrance and the Labour town councillors in Brecon to apologise for “deliberate scaremongering”.
Cllr Hayes who represents Montgomery, had written an initial response to a question by Cllr McIntosh, seeking to confirm that there were “no plans to close the Arosfa Day Centre before December 13”.
The answer had been criticised by Cllr Dorrance who had documents which show there was a discussion taking place about the service last summer.
Cllr Dorrance who represents the ward of St John in Brecon had a letter from Adult Services’ head of transformation Dylan Owen from July 2018, which proposed three options for Arosfa last summer.
This included relocating the service and returning the building to the property services – in other words closing the building down but keeping the service in Brecon.
Cllr Dorrance said: “I would like to point out that those meetings in July did circulate information that the building would be returned to the council’s property services if one of the options at the time would go forward.
“It’s clear that the cabinet were considering options that could have closed Arosfa Day Centre on Camden Road.
“That’s what the information, the responses are not tallying with the information that was circulated to members.
“Let’s be honest, the information needs to be accurate, if the cabinet has decided not to go forward with an option that would have closed the day centre on Camden Road I wholeheartedly welcome that.
“But let’s not hide the fact that it was under consideration.”
Cllr Hayes replied: “I certainly refute the allegation that I have attempted to mislead the council in the answer I gave Cllr McIntosh on Arosfa.
“Cllr Dorrance is an experience councillor who knows that for any plans to come forward they would have had to be taken through cabinet or the delegated decision making process.
“They would be subject to consultation, impact assessment and to scrutiny.
“I do share the view that for a councillor of Cllr Dorrance’s experience to promulgate on social media the suggestion that Arosfa Day Centre is under threat is irresponsible.”
The issue has erupted in recent weeks as Cllr McIntosh says that Labour candidates in a town council election that took place in Brecon before Christmas, misled electors by “falsely claiming” that Arosfa would close.