Powys County Council has refused planning permission for an application to build five new houses on land near Welshpool.
The application, submitted in April 2023, proposed placing five dwellings, as well as infrastructure and all associated works, on land by Penyfoel Farm in Middletown, near Welshpool.
The application was submitted by David R Davies, consulting and agricultural engineers, and states that the proposal aims to supply more houses to meet the demand for affordable housing in mid Wales.
It stated: “There is an identified need to provide more new dwellings within Powys County which currently has a shortfall of available land and an urgent need for housing stock and this application will help to relieve the situation.
“The design of the proposed dwellings has been based on affordability with a mixture of properties to allow both first time buyers and upgrading buyers who wish to move up the property ladder.”
The proposed development would include a mixture of two and three bedroom houses that, according to the application, would part of a project to construct further houses under separate applications in the future, but with their first application refused those plans could be in doubt.
Powys County Council refused to grant the application planning permission, citing a number of reasons in a report.
It stated: “The development as proposed would constitute unjustified and unsustainable residential development within the open countryside, which is unacceptable in principle in accordance with the aims, objectives and requirements of the adopted Powys Local Development Plan, Planning Policy Wales and Future Wales: The National Plan.
“The site area does not reflect an appropriate density for development and is therefore not considered in accordance with policies of the Powys Local Development Plan.”
The application claimed that access off the highway to the proposed dwellings will be within adoptable highway standards, the report by Powys Council disagrees.
The report stated: “Insufficient information has been submitted to demonstrate that the proposed development would be served by an adequate means of vehicular access, with a safe access and egress being achievable.
“The proposed development therefore has the potential to result in a detrimental impact upon highway safety with the proposed development.”
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