Plans for new ambulance station shelved

Plans for a new ambulance station in a Gwent town have been shelved in favour of refurbishing an existing building. 

However the Welsh Ambulance Service has said a refurbished station in Monmouth could be completed by end of the March 2026. 

Crews have operated from a temporary building since the closure of the town’s ambulance station some 13 years ago when it was “sadly, condemned as not fit for purpose,” according to Councillor Martin Newell. 

The Conservative member for the Town ward said paramedics and crews now operate from what he called “a Portakabin” and said “winter is coming and it is drafty and it leaks.” 

He asked if Monmouthshire County Council’s cabinet member Ian Chandler, whose role also includes health, could provide an update on any discussions over a new ambulance station with the service. 

Cllr Chandler said the service had signed off on plans to rebuild the station in November last year, and the county council’s planning department had offered pre-application advice, but it has since decided on a refurbishment instead. 

The Green Party councillor said: “The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust has now assessed the options and decided to press head with a refurbishment of the existing building they tell me they are scoping out what they can do with the internal structure and a final design to be to be signed off and go out for tender.” 

Cllr Chandler said the service has said its project board is “very supportive of the refurbishment option and it hopefully means work can begin in early autumn and be completed by the end of the financial year but that could be subject to change due to a range of factors.” 

Cllr Chandler promised to keep councillors updated and added: “In my view it’s very positive news we will have a refurbished and fully functioning ambulance station within the next nine months.” 

Mitchell Troy and Trellech councillor Richard John, the leader of the Conservative group, said the ambulance service had initially considered a joint emergency services base with the fire service, which has a station next door to the ambulance station on Rockfield Road, and police but that plan was abandoned on cost grounds. 

Cllr John, writing on social media, said while it was “disappointing” the revised plans for a standalone ambulance station had also been dropped he welcomed the “scaled back proposals” as “infinitely better than current conditions” as he said in the temporary building crews have been left without running water during the winter.