THE way is being paved for a new council housing development on land in northern Powys.

Land at Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant will be transferred between Powys County Council departments so that houses can be built there.

Land at Maes-yr-Esgob in the village will go from the strategic property department to the housing service to “enable the provision of new council housing.”

The land in question is around the Maes-yr-Esgob housing estate which sits between the village primary school and football club.

On Thursday, March 16 by Cllr Jake Berriman the cabinet member for a connected Powys and Cllr Matthew Dorrance who is the cabinet member for a fairer Powys, took the delegated decision which allows the staff in each department to finalise the deal.

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Much of the detail of the decision has been kept confidential, but the report does explain that the land will be transferred to the Housing Revenue Account which is a ring fenced budget that is used to manage the council’s housing stock.

The report said: “That delegated authority is granted to the head of housing to agree terms for the purchase of land, by the HRA, on the basis that negotiations are undertaken by strategic property, that the purchase value of the site represents value for money and that the land is used to enhance and support the development of council housing in Llanrhaeadr-Ym-Mochnant.”

Deputy council leader and cabinet member for a fairer Powys, Cllr Dorrance said: “We are focussed on tackling the housing emergency in the county and building a stronger, fairer, greener future for Powys.

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“We will achieve this is by building high-quality council homes for families in our communities.

“The purchase of this land by the housing service will help us meet our priority of building high-quality council homes for affordable rent.

“The land is suitable for housebuilding, and I look forward to seeing the site being developed so that we can meet the housing needs of the local community.”

The decision will come into force on Friday, March 24.

Maes-yr-Esgob in English means the Bishop’s Field and is a nod to Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant most famous historic resident, William Morgan.

During his time as the parish vicar in the 1580s he translated the whole Bible into Welsh from Greek and Hebrew.

The translation of the Bible is one of the main reasons Welsh survived as a living language.