IF Covid has taught us anything it is that people and places are important to us all. For many people with a learning disability, the restrictions on freedoms and access to safe places where they meet friends was devastating.

Many people with a learning disability already struggled to maintain friendships and relationships and Covid made this worse.

For organisations like Mencap Cymru who both support people with a learning disability through direct services and also provide advocacy and campaigning to support to family carers and their loved one, it has along with other members of the Learning Disability Consortium in Wales been lobbying Government to ensure that place-based services and the friendships they foster are not lost as local authorities look at new services in light of Covid.

The experience of people who attend Tudor Street Day Centre is one which is replicated across Wales.

These places are important and have long histories and funders need to think carefully when deciding on their future.

At the heart of such discussions must be the needs and wishes of people with a learning disability and their family carers. The Social Services and Wellbeing Act makes it very clear that people should be at the heart of shaping the services they need.

We have come along way since the 1983 strategy which saw people move from long stay institutions like Llanfrechfa Grange to ordinary houses in ordinary streets, however communities are not always accessible or welcoming to people with a learning disability and those who think that people who attend centres like Tudor Street can move easily into community spaces need to be rigorous in their equality impact assessment.

As it has been explained by many of the people campaigning to save Tudor Street, the lack of changing place facilities in Abergavenny would have a major impact on people who need changing tables and hoists and no where should be considered an acceptable alternative before these important infrastructures are in place.

I hope the decision by Monmouthshire County Council to pause the closure whilst the review is being undertaken shows that those who made the decision to close Tudor Street recognise that the voices of those who will use services in Abergavenny should shape the services they need and if that means a safe and secure space with the right equipment then Tudor Street or a similar space must be part of the day support offer.