Pembroke Dock’s Anchorage day centre is to close in less than two months, following a decision by senior councillors.

Pembrokeshire County Council is currently changing care provision for older adults and those with learning disabilities, and fears have been raised recently that Pembroke Dock’s Anchorage day care centre is to close.

A series of engagement events have taken place at The Anchorage recently, outlining the reasons and the options in continued service, part of which is much-needed building maintenance costs at the centre, set against a background of increasingly tight budgets, councillors have heard.

The Anchorage Day Care Centre in Pembroke Dock has been a “safe and happy place” for adults with learning difficulties and additional needs for decades.

In more recent years it has expanded to support elderly dementia sufferers.

At the July meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council, members received a petition calling for the council to keep the centre open, with an impassioned plea by Peter Welsh 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 safety at their 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.”

Despite a plea by local councillors Tony Wilcox and Brian Hall to give the centre a breathing space ahead of a potential move to an as-yet-unbuilt facility in Pembroke, the matter was brought to the September meeting of the council’s Cabinet.

In a report presented at the September 9 Cabinet meeting by Cllr Tessa Hodgson, Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding, it was recommended members “close the Anchorage Day Centre with effect from November 1, 2024,” along with, as part of wider changes in the service, establishing social enterprise models in the Crymych’s Bro Preseli and Narberth’s Lee Davies Centre with effect from April 1, 2025.

The recommendation, one of three presented to Cabinet, said it “will provide a longer time period to establish social enterprise models in two of the three centres, ensuring time for scrutiny from members and further engagement from families and users in the final model,” adding: “The model will further strengthen the links between PCC and the third Sector.

“The Anchorage Day Centre would be closed in [two of the three options], but the timescales set out would provide a transition to a new service before the winter and ensure that service users would not need unplanned placement if the building does require emergency closure.

“Service users at the Anchorage have all received support from senior social workers to review alternative placements and all have chosen options should the decision be made to close the Anchorage. Several additional options to retain services within the Pembroke Dock area have been included mitigating journey time to Haverfordwest.

“Meadow Park [in Haverfordwest] has capacity to support all of the current service users from the Anchorage and has the capacity and skill set to provide a single point of excellence. South Wales Advocacy will be approached once a decision has been made to support service users.

“Whilst Option 2 would not secure all of the budget savings required of adult services in 2024/25 it will ensure full recovery next year and reduce the need to enact any further budget savings which would require loss of staff and additional redundancy costs.”

Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett said: “It’s a sensitive issue and one that really – if I was a parent, I would want to protect my young person or adult as much as possible – I guess part of all that is about the peer group or the friendship group that they have; wherever possible we must seek to offer something that preserves that as much as possible and is as close to wherever they live as possible.”

Council leader Cllr Jon Harvey stressed the need to keep the “cohort of Anchorage users together,” later quoting the reasoning behind the choice of options, as outlined in the report to members.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Hodgson said: “In Pembrokeshire, we want older people and people with disabilities to have a range of meaningful things to do, in their local communities that provides purpose, connection and where appropriate, progression.

“We have at every step tried to balance the needs of the service users and their families with the requirement for change and we will continue to support all service users as we go through this process.

“We have worked hard to identify alternative and suitable provision for all service users and put the direct bus in place from the Anchorage to Meadow Park after listening to feedback.

“I wish to emphasise that no service users will be left without provision following the decision here today and we will continue to work closely with everyone to ensure a positive outcome for all day opportunities users.”