Protesters in Llanelli are expressing concerns that the presence of a drug addiction treatment centre in the vicinity of a playground, could potentially pose risks to children’s safety.
The Hywel Dda Health Board is proposing the construction of a “wellbeing center” in North Dock, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, which entails relocating the Dyfed Drug and Alcohol Service from Vaughan Street in the town.
Over 200 individuals have raised objections to this proposal with one local saying that it will “bring the area down” and voicing concerns that people using the centre would be “hanging around the area”.
As per a council planning report, the application has received backing from the police, with the service primarily operating on an appointment-only basis and surveillance cameras planned for installation around the premises.
According to the report, the centre will provide a range of services, including counselling, care planning, cognitive-behavioural therapy, crisis intervention, and harm reduction advice.
Councilor Sean Rees expressed apprehensions regarding the plans, citing health and safety as a primary concern. He contended that the intended location, set to be within the current Dragon 24 center, raised issues and described siting the center there as “the worst location they could have come up with”.
Mr Rees went on to say that “We have a children’s playground here and water-based activities taking place in the dock,” and he also asserted that no risk assessment had been conducted.
Another local councillor, Louvain Roberts, who alongside Sean Rees and approximately 70 other individuals staged a demonstration outside the site on Monday, said: “You’ve got water on both sides. It could be very dangerous. There’s water in the river and the dock. They could fall in the water.”
The council report refuted concerns about the dock and the river as “unfounded” and emphasised that there is no statutory obligation to conduct a risk assessment for the application.
The council’s recommended course of action is to approve the proposed development.
According to Hywel Dda University Health Board, the planning application “will help us build better health outcomes for the people of Llanelli” with Joanna Dainton describing the proposed center and its “benefits” to the town as “quite literally life changing”.
