Town Councillors have voted in support of demolition and redevelopment of the former Motorworld site in Newtown

At a Economy & Environment Committee meeting held on Monday 1st August 2022, town councillors discussed plans for redevelopment of the former Motorworld site. The plans include demolition and creation of new Class A1 retail and 7 high quality flats.

The application was presented by Cllr Richard Edwards, Chair of the Committee and discussed in detail by the committee. Comments were made by town councillors around parking, renewable energy and the local character.

Cllr Tracy Owen said:

"There is a lack of residential properties in the town certainly these are going to be privately owned or rented and would be nice residential rooms for a smart professional which we are lacking in the town."

"The building there are the moment is not attractive at the moment."

Cllr David Selby said:

"We have to do a delicate balancing act and keeping it a living town is the biggest priority in my view and we are not going to do that by refusing applications for modern replacements."

"It replaces a building which is in need of replacement and provides housing in our town."

Cllr Richard Edwards said:

"Overall, summing everything up, I feel that I would also support this development and recommend that to the committee that we do support the development but the points that have been raised this evening we do feed them back to Powys County Council"

"We need to keep speaking about the local character and local distinctiveness of the area otherwise it will be lost over time."

The final vote was 5 in support with 0 against.

The Town Council is a statutory consultee and submits comments to Powys County Council's Planning Department and does not make the final decision. The final decision will be made by Powys County Council at either their Planning Committee or delegated to officers.

The application can be viewed online here or by visiting the Powys Planning Portal and quoting reference '22/1033/FUL'. Comments can be submitted via the portal.