A PROPOSED Gypsy camp in Brecon has cleared a major hurdle - after a compulsory purchase order of the land was approved.

Powys County Council applied to the National Assembly for Wales for permission to compulsory purchase land adjacent to the Enterprise Park, beside the A470 at Brecon to be used for a permanent gypsy and traveller site after talks with the landowner broke down.

Councillor Rosemarie Harris, cabinet member for housing, said: "We will now be able to start work on the project and provide a facility that meets the needs of the family concerned and complies with Welsh Government good practice standards.

"The project, which has already attracted considerable Welsh Government financial assistance, is likely to take some months to complete but we are hopeful to have the site completed by spring 2014."

The Brecon Beacons National Park approved planning permission for a 14 pitch site in March last year but was delayed due to the landowner's refusal to sell the land. An independent inspector held a public hearing of the council's case for a compulsory purchase in Brecon in February this year.

The council has been searching for a permanent Gypsy site in Breconshire since 2005.

For more on this story see The Brecon & Radnor Express on sale from Wednesday, May 8