Campaigners across North and Mid Wales trying to save two air ambulance bases have been offered a glimmer of hope by the High Court who have announced that a hearing will take place on 22 and 23 January.

Caernarfon and Welshpool air ambulance bases are under threat of closure, and campaigners have battled hard to keep them open.

Last July, campaign groups ‘Save Welshpool Air Ambulance Base’ and ‘Save Caernarfon Air Ambulance’ confirmed that an application for a judicial review had been issued to the High Court, and they heard last October that they had won the right to a full hearing in the High Court.

Now their argument against closing the bases will finally be heard when the Judicial Review starts at 10am on Wednesday, 22 January and continues on Thursday, 23 January.

The hearing will take place at Cardiff Crown Court and anyone who would like to attend is able to without the need to register.

Glantwymyn councillor Elwyn Vaughan is one of the campaigners who has been fighting hard to keep the air bases open.

Responding to the confirmation that the Judicial Review hearing date has been set, the Powys councillor said this was "an important step forward".

He added: "This has been a long campaign, one that has tried to get justice and parity of service for our rural communities. We have shown that the initial idea that 583 extra instances would benefit from the closure of the Welshpool base as fantasy figures and was nothing more than spin over substance.

“It is clear that communities especially in much of Montgomeryshire, South Gwynedd and North Ceredigion will be worse off and that is not acceptable. That is why I welcome the fact that the judge has allowed us to undertake a Judicial Review and hence I sincerely hope that common sense will prevail and force a rethink of this proposal.

“It is however, sad that we have had to fight so hard to have the voices of our communities heard whilst those pushing this agenda of centralisation have been intransigent and ignorant of the reality on the ground. We are determined our voices will be heard.”

Campaigners said their application to the High Court for a Judicial Review had been made to challenge “the lawfulness of the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee’s (JCC) decision to adopt recommendations which would see changes to the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS), including the permanent closure of Air Ambulance bases in Welshpool and Caernarfon”.

In a statement about the judicial review application, they said: “We were not prepared to accept the decision reached, and campaign teams in Mid and North Wales have been working together, along with others, and law firm Watkins and Gunn.”

The claim was brought by a local resident (referred to as the Claimant), who asked the court to quash the JCC’s decision to adopt the recommendations, and grant an injunction prohibiting the defendant health boards from taking steps to implement the recommendations.