Powys church building bid back on table

Next week Powys County Council’s planning committee will discuss the application for the buildings, plus 74 parking spaces, on land adjacent to Abermule House in Abermule, on Thursday.

Dolafon Gospel Hall Trust have made the application, which was originally for a much larger church building, and caused concern for councillors.

Back in 2012 an application was made which in 2014, despite a recommendation for approval, was rejected by councillors. An appeal against the decision was also dismissed in 2014.

Original plans in 2012 were objected to by Abermule and Llandyssil Community Council.

However the Dolafan Gospel Hall Trust insist the new build, which is 50 per cent smaller than the controversial plans in 2012, will serve a local Christian congregation. who live in the Abermule, Kerry, Sarn, Hodley and Llandyssil.

A host of letters of support have been sent to the local authority, saying the building is in keeping with the local area, with one member of the Brethren community insisting he may have to leave his beloved village, if the plans are refused again.

In a letter to the council, John Morrish, who owns ‘Adventa’ in Newtown, and invested £1 million into the area in 2016, said: “The design is very much in keeping with the area, and I believe the community does not realise how important a place of worship is to use or the area.

“We love Abermule, and it feels extremely frustrating that we should move into the area, work hard to grow our business, become an employer of choice, and yet when it comes to have a simple place to worship and preach the gospel, the authorities seem so reluctant to provide.”

For over six years Mr Morrish has had twice weekly house meetings at his home, and said: “We find this very humiliating that we have nowhere better to use.

Mr Morrish added: “The arrangement is not fair on our family or our local congregation. We need to stop using our house and have a recognised place as soon as possible.”

“My appeal to Powys County Council is that they adopt a broad minded inclusive approach to what is best for Abermule and Powys, rather than the narrow ‘not-in-my-back-yard’ way of thinking that has sometimes prevailed.”

Speaking about the building itself, Mr Morrish, whose company has 20 full time staff and 24 part-time staff in the area, insisted it is a lot smaller than original plans, and said a new pathway that would be put in would be of benefit to the community.

He added: “The proposed single storey church has been carefully designed to be in keeping with the local environment and is a completely new and much smaller design to that submitted in 2012.

“ It will be timber clad and visually unobtrusive to the immediate local area. Landscaping will also take place throughout the area.

“The application also includes improvements to the road, with a new pavement for pedestrians who live locally, such as at Court Close, and who currently have to walk on the road to access the village.”

Chair of the council, councillor Jane Rees said originally councillors were against the plans due to possible increased traffic coming through the village.

However after changes, she said: “To begin with it was a much larger development and we were against it.

“Now we’ve given no objection, but if it gets permission and problems do arise then we will have to look at that when we come to it.”

The proposed houses will be made up of two two story four bedroom dwellings with two story dwellings being located north of the site, and two dwellings being two single story three bedroom properties.

The application lies part within and part outside the development boundary for the village as defined in the Powys Unitary Development Plan.

Councillors will consider the new application at a committee meeting next Thursday.in Llandrindod Wells on June 22.