New council flats officially opened in town
A £3.4 million housing development offering 26 one-bedroom flats has been officially opened.
Powys County Council said all the flats, built on the former bowling green in the centre of Newtown, will be let on secure contracts, giving tenants an opportunity to make the energy efficient apartments their ‘forever homes’.
It added that rents will be among the lowest in Powys, helping people to better manage the cost-of-living challenges.
Guests were given a tour of the new homes, which have been built for Powys County Council by Pave Aways Building Contractors on Wednesday morning.
The new three-storey development is known as Y Lawnt, or The Green.
It sits next to the long-running Newtown Bowling Club, which was founded in 1892, and the town’s Back Lane car park.
The flats which are owned and managed by Powys County Council (PCC) have been allocated to tenants through ‘Homes in Powys’, the one stop shop for all social housing in the county.
The Welsh Government provided £2.2 million towards the project through its Innovative Housing Programme.
“I’ve been bowled over by this low-carbon development in the centre of Newtown, which is helping us provide much needed additional low-cost homes for Powys residents,” said Councillor Matthew Dorrance, the council's Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for a Fairer Powys.
“I’m grateful to Welsh Government for the funding provided and for the work of officers in the council’s Affordable Housing Team and our construction partners Pave Aways for delivering this high-quality project. Y Lawnt is helping us do our bit towards tackling both the housing and climate emergencies we are facing.”
Jamie Evans, Pave Aways’ Construction Director added: “This scheme has delivered high specification new homes that will be more economical for tenants to run in an era of high energy costs, and the innovative building methods used are ones which can be adopted by ourselves and our sub-contractors on other low-carbon developments in the future.”
The guests at the official opening included representatives of Powys County Council and its Tenant Scrutiny Panel, contractors Pave Aways and Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn Town Council.
