An £84,000 funding boost will help strengthen and expand a life-saving night time welfare centre in Wrexham for the next four years.
The money for Hafan y Dref from Wrexham City Board has ensured the service can continue, protecting vulnerable revellers and extending its opening hours for busy periods like Christmas and major city events.
The centre, on St Giles Way at the bottom of Town Hill, provides immediate medical attention to people who have become vulnerable due to drinking too much or taking drugs, or who are injured or unwell.
The centre provides safety and assistance to anybody who has lost their friends on their night out or are in distress.
It’s operated and staffed by four trained medical professionals from Events Medical Team from 10.30pm on a Saturday to 4.30am on a Sunday, and since it launched in 2015 has helped about 1,000 people every year.
The financial backing is the Wrexham City Board’s first allocation of funding through its UK Government-supported Pride in Place programme.
Board chair Rachel Clacher said the support reflected the organisation’s commitment to improve community safety.
She said: “Supporting projects like Hafan y Dref is exactly what Pride in Place is here to do.
“Our investment programme has been shaped by thousands of conversations with local people, and one priority came through loud and clear: people want a city centre that feels safe, welcoming and somewhere they are proud to spend time.
“An important part of the City Board’s role is to champion initiatives that are already making a real difference, where our support can add value and accelerate their impact.
“Hafan y Dref is a wonderful example. By investing £84,000 alongside the £120,000 already committed by other partners, we’re not simply adding funding, we’re helping unlock the next stage of an initiative that is already changing lives and making our city centre safer.
“I’m especially pleased that this, our first Pride in Place investment is a perfect reflection of the City Board’s approach: listening carefully to our communities, bringing organisations together and using our funding to strengthen and accelerate work that is already making a real difference.
“A thriving, safe city centre is at the heart of a thriving, safe county borough. Each depends on the other, and when one flourishes, so does the other.
“When people feel safe, they spend more time here, businesses flourish, communities grow stronger and pride in Wrexham grows too. That’s the kind of lasting impact Pride in Place is here to create.”
Councillor Nigel Williams, lead member for economy, business and tourism at Wrexham Council, said: “The support of Wrexham City Board is absolutely fantastic.
“I have been on the City Board since its inception about two years ago and it is so pleasing to now see tangible results and the funding made.
“Hafan y Dref supports the night-time economy and helps the police and it helps the NHS by keeping people away from A&E if they’ve suffered a relatively small or minor injury.
“But it is a life-saving service too because Hafan y Dref can often by the nearest emergency responders to a situation.
“It helps people who have had a few too many to drink and ensures they get home safe and well, so it is a valuable service in safeguarding terms.”
Alison Watkin, partnership manager at Wrexham Council, added: “Hafan y Dref can save lives, and they have been first on the scene when people have fallen and hit their head, or had a heart attack, and they have been there very quickly.
“We have had cases where that has happened and it shows how valuable the service is.”
She said the City Board funding would be added to funding provided to Hafan y Dref by the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Wrexham Council and the Area Planning Board (Substance Misuse Board).
Wrexham local policing Chief Inspector Caroline Mullen-Hurst said Hafan y Dref’s crucial work allowed 999 staff to respond to genuine emergencies during busy evening shifts in Wrexham, and also reduced the risk of people who had become vulnerable becoming the victims of crime.
Chief Inspector Mullen-Hurst, chair of the Wrexham Community Safety Partnership, said: “I think it is a vital service.Not all cities offer that sort of service and without it, we would see a huge increase in potential offences, such as sexual offences and violence against women and girls, but also a general demand on policing such as providing welfare support.”
She added the police’s support of the work carried out at Hafan y Dref also backed the force’s commitment to the North Wales Women’s Night Safety Charter and its priority to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls offending.
She said: “Some of the people supported are lone females and males who have become intoxicated or are vulnerable because they are by themselves or perhaps they are from out of the area.
“It is a place they can go to which is a safe space and reduces the chances of them becoming a victim of crime.”
Wrexham city centre Sergeant Sarah Hughes-Jones added: “The benefits of having Hafan Y Dref are immeasurable. It deals with the whole spectrum of incidents such as severe incidents when somebody has gone into cardiac arrest to helping somebody suffering from blisters on their feet.
“We have a vibrant night-time economy and we have evolved from a town to a city and we have the football, it could be we are in the Premier League next year.
“What comes with that is we have more football fans coming for the game and we also have so many more visitors coming over from America because they watch the Welcome to Wrexham documentary and want to stay in the city and enjoy it and have a night out.
“We want to make sure everyone is safe and Hafan y Dref helps us do that and that’s why the city board funding is so important.”
