PLANS by a care provider to build bungalows and staff accommodation at the site of a former school in Ystradgynlais, have been unanimously approved by councillors.
Fieldbay Ltd already run a Care Home at Yr Ysgol and want to use land to the south of the site to build four supported living bungalows and a staff pod.
The application was discussed by councillors on at Powys County Council’s Planning committee meeting on Thursday, October 20.
The land where the company want to build had been used for car parking.
A problem for the scheme had been removed after a Flood Consequence Assessment submitted in support of the application concluded that the site is not in a C2 flood zone as had been previously stated.
The Welsh Government environment body: Natural Resources Wales (NRW) reviewed the information and agreed with the outcome of the assessment and dropped their objection to the plans.
Principal planning officer, Gemma Bufton advised councillors to approve the application,
Cllr Huw Williams, spoke on behalf of residents who objected to the proposal on the grounds of privacy and car parking issues.
Cllr Williams said: “The proposal removes 14 parking bays in the site and there are no new parking bays provided.
“The highways authority in the report say there is sufficient capacity.
“There will be more staff and patients – where will they park?”
He added that residents had “grave concerns” because they have experienced long term parking issues.
This could cause “serious access and obstruction issues,” said Cllr Williams.
Agent, Llinos Hallett said: “The bungalows will serve as an important steppingstone for those on the road to independent living.
“High quality support will be available to residents, with complex care needs.”
Ms Bufton added: “We do now that there is a Powys wide need for this type of accommodation.”
Cllr Gareth D Jones asked if the access to the site was wide enough to deal with bigger vehicles>
Highways officer Steve Jones said that the access had been designed for the former school.
Mr Jones said: “It’s perfectly adequate and been serving the care home for many years.
“The number of larger vehicles serving this site are already doing so – we have no issues at all.”
Mr Jones added that the applicant had done a “detailed parking review” as part of the proposal and there would still be eight spaces above what’s needed
Having received an answer to his questions, Cllr Jones said that he was happy to move the application to a vote.
Cllr Tom Colbert said: “This is the sort of thing we should be supporting.”
Cllr Colbert said he would second the proposal to move to a vote.
A further sustainable a sustainable drainage system (SuDS) application will need to be approved before building work can start.
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