Welshpool town councillors have shown support for a proposal to convert a former bank building into flats, despite some concerns over parking.
At a meeting of Welshpool town council’s planning committee on Wednesday, June 12, town councillors considered an application for planning permission to convert 42 Broad Street, a Grade II listed building, into eight flats.
The building used to be the home of Lloyds Welshpool branch, before the property was purchased by Welshpool Town Council in the mid-20th Century and acted as an office for the charity Pothafren until 2019.
Cllr Nick Howells showed broad support for the project, saying: "The state of the building is an absolute disgrace. I hope any development there will tidy the building up.”
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However, Cllr Phil Pritchard had reservations about the proposal, saying: “Are we supposed to be protecting our Broad Street and high street or allow every one of them to be turned into flats or whatever.
“I have no objection to flats but believe the bottom floor should be commercial as it’s always been that and should be kept that way. It’s always been commercial offices and I believe we should insist that the bottom floor remain commercial.”
The plans specified that the ground floor of the listed building will remain as financial services and the front access will be retained, while the first and second floors would be used for fone bedroom flats.
Cllr Phil Owen was concerned over the parking situation, saying: “I’ve said for a long time if there is a mixed use development of the town centre you must make some provision for people to have vehicular access to these buildings and somewhere to park their cars.
“We would have eight new flats housing eight new families, but are they expecting people without cars to live there?”
Cllr Ben Gwalchmai added: “I suspect that Powys and the developers are hoping to develop flats for younger families who might not have a car.
“When we respond we should be sure to note the feedback we’ve received about parking, access, and the high street.
“It’s important to support access to more housing, especially those struggling to get on the market, but we should include some conditions we would support it under.”
The council voted to support the proposal, but included conditions that the developers take into account their comments regarding parking.
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