Plaid’s Jill Evans, Member of the European Parliament for Wales, is opposing Cardiff Council’s plans to stop funding the Storey Arms Outdoor Centre in the Brecon Beacons.

Cardiff’s Labour Council has proposed 100% cuts to the centre’s budget. The centre serves thousands of children from schools and youth centres, as well as other groups from across Europe.

Speaking on a visit to the centre, Ms Evans said:

“I find it incredible that Cardiff Council would consider ending financial support for such a popular and well used facility.

“A trip to Storey Arms is a valuable experience for so many children. Children from all backgrounds have the chance to have fun and develop in one of Wales’s best loved beauty spots.

“If these cuts go ahead then there is a real danger that schools in Cardiff who send pupils there will no longer be able to afford to. There are alternative ways of saving money without endangering this flagship centre.

“I urge Labour to change their minds and to get their priorities right. They need to listen to the thousands of people who have signed the petition opposing the cuts to Storey Arms.”

Cardiff Councillor and former Deputy Leader of the Council Neil McEvoy said:

" I am asking everybody in the City and beyond to gather outside City Hall at 3.30pm on Thursday 28th February to show support for Storey Arms and others badly affected by these savage and unnecessary cuts.

"Labour's proposed budget is now in disarray. They are calling for the Commonweath Games to be in Cardiff, which will cost the same as all the projected Cardiff cuts over the next 5 years. That money would be better spent keeping the essential services that residents in Cardiff rely on. The Council's announcement on the bid shows that there is hard evidence that these cuts don't need to happen. Storey Arms is a place which changes people's lives. Plaid in Cardiff will do everything we can to defend it."

You can sign the petition here: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/cardiff-county-council-stop-making...