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Councillor's request to call in plans for new Powys houses

Councillor's request to call in plans for new Powys houses

A REQUEST that Powys County Council's planning committee decide plans for eight houses in a village near Welshpool has been made by a senior councillor.
In June, fresh plans were lodged with Powys planners by Dave Davies of Ashvale Contracting Limited to build eight homes with the associated access and drainage works for land west of Penyfoel Farm, in Middletown.
The proposal is for seven three-bedroom properties and one four-bedroom property.
Two of the three-bedroom properties would be earmarked for affordable homes.
The principle of developing the site was agree by Powys planners five years ago in 2020 when they agreed an outline planning application for the site.
However, it has become a struggle to get to a point where building homes on the site is allowed.
A reserved matters planning application lodged by Mr Davies in 2023 was rejected by Powys planners in September 2024 on several grounds including, 'unjustified and unsustainable development in the open countryside:' and 'inadequate' level of affordable housing would be provided by the development.
In August 2023, a previous smaller application for five dwellings on the site had also been rejected by Powys planners.
Cllr Amanda Jenner (Conservative), who represents the Trelystan and Trewern ward, which includes Middletown, said: 'I would like to call in this application due to the history of previous planning applications at this site and concerns about the access into the site.'
Trewern Community Council discussed the application at a meeting in July.
The council said: 'We do not have any objections at this stage, but would like to ask for clarification on a few points.'
They said that they want to know what the difference between this and previous applications is and 'particularly in relation' to development in the open countryside.
Planning agent Lewis Williams of Hughes Architects explained the new application in a planning statement.
He said: 'It is worth noting that the site was granted outline planning for eight dwellings.
'This well-considered and policy-compliant proposal represents a valuable addition to the local area and should be supported.'
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