A NEW community hub for older people could be created in Alcester to meet the demands of an ageing population.
Alcester Town Council is hoping to secure £100,000 to provide health and wellbeing services to elderly people in the town after a questionnaire highlighted it was one of residents’ main concerns.
Although the plans are still in the early stages, councillors are hopeful of securing funding.
The money would then be used in partnership with agencies to provide services from a base in the town which could include volunteer support, expert availability from social services, the NHS and groups such as Age UK.
Similar schemes already operate in Leeds, Birmingham and Oxfordshire, where hot meals, hairdressers and bathing facilities are all on offer.
One of the venues which is being looked at is the Jubilee Centre which currently has a dementia café, games and is a meeting place for various groups.
If the money is secured, Alcester could become the first small market town in Warwickshire to offer this type of service and it could become a pilot scheme for other councils in the county.
Coun Mike Gittus said: “It looks like a lot to take on but I’m not frightened by this proposition.
“We live in a population in which the average age is getting older, this would be a significant service to the community.
“I think it is exactly what we need.”
Coun Lennox Cumberbatch, who is the town’s health champion, said the services were vitality important to Alcester’s future.
Councillors voted at a meeting last Tuesday (January 6) to look at the plans in more detail.
