Machynlleth locals turned out in droves to support keeping the Wales Air Ambulance in Welshpool.

A meeting of the public consultation about the future of the base took place a Y Plas on Tuesday (May 23).

Over local 150 residents turned up to the meeting to give their opinion about the potential closure of the base.

The consultation is looking at the future structure of the Wales Air Ambulance service, including one option that would see the closure of the Welshpool and Caernarfon bases that was first reported in the County Times last year.

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Local County Councillor, Elwyn Vaughan, said residents raised “genuine concerns at Machynlleth about future of air ambulance service” and added “we need to keep Welshpool and Caernarfon bases and add new RRV’s (Rapid Response Vehicle) for Northeast to meet the need.”

The attendance was welcomed by campaigners such as Cynthia Duce who said: “There was an excellent turnout last night at Machynlleth with 150+ people in attendance it was a long meeting that ran over by hour with a lot of very important questions asked.

However, Mrs Duce and others at the meeting were concerned with some of the reponses from the panel.

“Unfortunately this meeting brought up some very worrying points which we and a lot of other people in attendance felt that this is already a done deal,” said Mrs Duce. “This was not helped by Mark James who is a Trustee for the Wales Air Ambulance saying that the service would be better if it was in the new proposed base on the A55.

“He also said that their final decision would most likely be very unpopular by the majority of the audience that attended Machynlleth.”

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Ms Duce and other members of the campaign to keep the base have stressed the importance of people coming out to other meetings - “It is vitally important that as many people as possible attend the final meeting in Newtown on Monday June 5.”

Chief Ambulance Service Commissioner, Stephen Harrhy – who is running the consultation – has repeatedly stressed that no decision has been made about the future of the base and that further analysis will be taking place before any decision is made.

The meeting in Newtown will be the final chance for residents to have their say and put forward ideas before more analysis takes place ahead of a second round of meetings takes place later in the summer.

The final meeting will take place at the Monty Club, Broad Street, Newtown from 6-7.30pm.