POWYS planners have approved a caravan park expansion near Newtown which will see a fivefold increase in its size.

Earlier this year, Hannah and Wyn Morris lodged an application with Powys County Council for 20 static caravan plots, plus four-metre-wide access tracks and a sewage treatment plant at a field on Finger Post Farm, a livestock farm between Tregynon and Bettws Cedewain.

Planning permission for five chalets was granted in 2003 and in 2019 this was “varied” to allow five static caravans to be placed there.

This means that up to 25 caravans can now be sited at the farm.

Both local county councillor, Heulwen Hulme and Tregynon community council had backed the scheme.

Senior planning officer. Kate Bowen said: “The proposed development would be a significant extension to the existing caravan park which has five permitted caravans.

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“However, it is considered that the development has been designed to integrate into the topography of the land and therefore whilst the site would be visible from public vantage points in the immediate locality, it would not be visible in longer views.

“Taking into account the extent of land involved, the availability of best and most versatile land in the area, the economic benefits of the development as a tourism scheme as part of farm diversification outweigh the loss of high-quality agricultural land in this instance."

A number of conditions are attached to the approval which will need to be adhered to.

If the tourism business stops operating, the field will need to be restored to its original state, and the caravans must only be used for holiday accommodation and not as anyone’s main home.

To prove this, the applicants will need to keep an up-to-date register showing the visitors home addresses, and the dates they stayed there.