Plans to develop former petrol station in Guilsfield are in with Powys planners

Ponthir developments limited have submitted a reserved matters planning application to build nine houses at the site of the former Fairview Garage in the village.

The plans show that there would be two types of houses built at the former petrol station at the site.

Four of the houses would have one bedroom and five of the houses would have two bedrooms.

Provision would be made for 14 car parking spaces at the site.

The application includes demolishing the former garage buildings.

In a supporting statement, agent Lewis Williams of Hughes Architects said: “The proposed development reflects the nature of the surrounding area and existing developments found in Guilsfield.

“The design of the dwellings includes natural slate roofs brick and UPVC windows.”

One of the issues that the application needs to address is concerns from the highway authority.

In comments made previously the highways authority have said that if the estate road infrastructure is similar to the original application, then they would not be “accepted for adoption.”

This means that the road in not maintained using public funding, and the upkeep would need to be paid for by other means.

The highways authority had suggested that a management company may need to be set up to do this.

To get over this problem, Mr Lewis said: “The entrance to the site is to be adoptable standard whilst the parking court will be private.

“The proposal will be in ownership of a registered social landlord and therefore it will be their responsibility to maintain this area.”

The outline plans were approved back in October 2020 at a meeting of Powys County Council’s Planning committee.

When it was discussed, David Jones the county councillor who represented Guilsfield at the time, said the scheme was too big for the site.

In December 2020 Guilsfield Community Council made a formal complaint against Powys County Council for the way they had handled the application.

Guilsfield council had thought that the application was on hold due to the Covid-19 crisis and had not given Powys an opinion on the scheme before it was decided.

This was because Guilsfield council’s meetings had been suspended from March to September 2020, and during that time members had not met to discuss the application.

In February 2021 – Guilsfield community councillors found out that their complaint had been thrown out by Powys.

The report on the complaint said that they community council had been told on September 22, that the application would be discussed at the planning meeting on October 1.

This gave Guilsfield council enough time to provide a response or have a representative ask to speak at the meeting.

Powys planners have a deadline of November 3 to decide the application.