ITV documentary filmed in town is screened

* Scenes for the documentary are shot outside the Cottage Hospital.
ITV Wales political editor Adrian Masters, right, interviews campaigner
Martin Crumpton. 

Llangollen featured in a TV documentary on the theme “who runs Wales” earlier this week.

The half-hour Wales This Week programme on ITV on Tuesday evening focused on exactly who holds the reins of power to control the country.

The show’s presenter, ITV Wales political editor Adrian Masters, suggested that many people were unsure of the answer.

That included Martin Crumpton of Berwyn, who is well known for campaigning against the plan by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to close Llangollen Cottage Hospital and eventually replace it with a new health centre, possibly on the site of the former River Lodge.

Asked by the TV man how he found out who was behind the plan, he said it helped that he had developed a good rapport with the press.

“They can give you a huge amount of information and contacts, “ Mr Crumpton said.

He added that in the fight against the closure plan, “the only weapon we’ve got is strength of public opinion” and that this was “the only thing that influences politicians.”

He went on: “They don’t like it when you shine a light on them.”

Asked directly who he thought does run Wales, he replied: “A conglomerate, no one person – not even Carwyn Jones.”

After taking evidence from various campaign groups in other parts of Wales, Masters concluded that, despite the Welsh Government, the source of all power, not just in Wales but across the UK, was still the Chancellor of the Exchequer who holds the purse strings of government.

The group set up to fight the hospital closure proposal, Keep Llangollen Health Services, has a public meeting at The Hand Hotel next Monday (October 15) starting at 7pm.

This will feature speakers, the organisation of letter writing and a discussion on the next steps in the campaign.