Don't mess with our lives: keep our local services local

What is it with the powers that be and their ability to mess with things?

Why is it that councils, governments, health trusts and police boards deem it permissible to ripple their hands through the normally calm waters of what keeps us safe, until we are all bobbing up and down not knowing which way is up nor when the storm will pass?

I refer to several situations here. First up is Thornbury Police Station. Earmarked to be torn down and replaced with sheltered housing now for some time, it signals an end to local police presence in the area. Sure, Avon and Somerset police has said that they are seeking suitable alternative locations, but as yet that has not materialised.

In the meantime, what do residents do for a police service, one that is there, immediate, on their doorstep?

Second, is the ambulance provision based in Dursley. We are, quite literally, in trouble without the men and women paramedics who provide this vital service. So why then is there a proposal to move the Dursley Ambulance site?

Currently, an ambulance and rapid response vehicle are both based in Dursley, but the South West Ambulance Trust announced that they are not renewing the lease to the site.

This means that the ambulance to the area will be based instead in Stroud, with the rapid response vehicle at Vale Hospital, Dursley. Now here’s the thing: yes, change happens.

Yes, we have services throughout the county that we can call upon. But what is being missed is that locals need a local service, and when it’s messed with, it intrinsically affects the core of why it is there in the first place: to help local people.

Last week, my friend’s son had a sudden, unexpected allergic reaction. He went downhill fast – it was serious.

My friend immediately took him to the local Vale hospital and do you know what she said? She said if the local hospital wasn’t there, where she could take him to within minutes, then she doesn’t know what would have happened.

The solution is simple: keep our local services. Cut them, mess with them too much and not only are the decision makers messing with our communities – they’re actually messing with our lives.

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