Approval given to outline plans for housing estate in Presteigne

Plans to build a housing estate at a Powys border town have been given the green light by county planners.

In January 2020, an outline planning application was submitted to Powys County Council by Farmers, Sid Williams and son to build 35 houses, 11 of them to be affordable homes, at Broadaxe Farm, Presteigne.

The site is opposite the playing field for John Beddoes Secondary School

The proposal is for a mixture of detached, semi-detached and terrace houses.

Four years ago, a pre-application consultation saw support for the application, but concerns were expressed about the size of the development and that it could put pressure on facilities in the town.

As part of the consultation, Powys County Councillor for Presteigne, Beverley Baynham, said that her “preference” would be to see a smaller development on the site.

She suggested it should be under “30 houses.”

In February 2020, Presteigne and Norton Town Council discussed the proposal.

Town clerk, Tracey Price said: “The council was pleased to see the number of affordable dwellings included in the proposal.

“The council appreciates that this number of dwellings will increase the pressure on the town facilities and would ask that the consideration of some form of planning gain.”

Principal planning officer Gemma Bufton said: “Presteigne under the LDP (Local Development Plan) is classified as a town.

“The application is located on land included within the settlement development boundary for Presteigne and is allocated for housing.

“It is therefore considered that the application site has been appropriately located.”

“The indicative layout shows that 35 dwellings could be accommodated on the site without having a negative impact on the character and appearance of the area.”

Ms Bufton explained that a 30 per cent contribution towards affordable housing is needed for this part of Powys.

Ms Bufton said:  “The applicant has confirmed in their application that 11 of the units provided will be affordable.

“Therefore, an appropriately worded condition will be attached to any grant of consent to secure the affordable nature of 30 per cent of the dwellings in line with policy.”

“It is considered that the proposed development fundamentally complies with relevant planning policy and the recommendation is one of conditional consent.”

The principle for building on the site has now been agreed – but details of the scheme need to be submitted in a further planning application within the next three years.