People power helped to win a new NHS dental centre in Charter Way, Liskeard, on which building work started this week. A Liberal Democrat health survey conducted in 2000 painted a woeful picture of NHS dental provision in Liskeard and the surrounding area. Caradon councillor Maureen Emuss took up the concerns of local people with the NHS Primary Care Trust, where funding for a dentist was available, but not for a new centre. Her Caradon colleague and Liskeard Town councillor Tony Powell then helped to make a ground-breaking agreement with Tony Lawson, head of developers Concise Construction, under which £350,000 was provided to pay for the building. Said Mrs Emuss: 'This is an example of the voice of local people being heard by councillors and their MP, and action being taken.' Mr Powell added: 'It has been a long campaign to get this much needed new facility built. 'I am delighted that local residents will now have much better access to NHS dentists, something that we are told time and again on the doorstep is important to local people.' Colin Breed, the MP for South East Cornwall who has long campaigned for the new facility, commented: 'I would like to thank everyone involved in this project for their help in making this dream come true. 'This is particularly important at a time when, according to the British Dental Health Foundation, mouth cancer kills one person every five hours in the UK, and the number of new cases is increasing more quickly than any other cancer.'