Plans for a massive housing estate in Ystradgynlais will come before Powys councillors again, after being put on pause just before Christmas.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Planning committee on Thursday, March 12, councillors will receive an updated report on a proposal by Persimmon Homes to build 152 homes on land west of the former Penrhos School on Brecon Road.

The scheme follows an earlier application by Persimmon Homes for 42 homes – referred to as phase one – which received planning approval in August 2022.

In August last year, fresh proposals to develop the site emerged for an application that Persimmon Homes West Wales had originally lodged with the council in January 2023.

That had been for 134 homes.

A new consultation took place on the new larger proposal, which is for a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom dwellings; 18 of the units will be one-bedroom flats.

At a Planning meeting in December, councillors were told of the volume of objections the proposal had received and concerns that the town doesn’t have the infrastructure to deal with a massive influx of new residents.

Councillors deferred the application to allow both Powys and Neath Port Talbot council education authorities the opportunity of commenting on the application and explaining whether schools in the area are able to take more children.

It is predicted that the development would produce 27 pupils for both primary and secondary schools.

Powys council have said that Ysgol Maes-y-Dderwen secondary school has 199 spare places and that the four primary schools in the town have 46 spaces.

Welsh-language pupils would be expected to attend Ysgol Bro Dur over the Neath Port Talbot county border in Ystalyfera.

The figures for Ysgol Bro Dur show that it has 59 spare places, and at the last count had 1,064 pupils, with the capacity being 1,123.

In her updated reports, senior planning officer Catherine James said: “The assessment demonstrates that both the primary and secondary sectors within the catchment area and the nearest cross-border school have sufficient surplus capacity to accommodate the projected pupil yield from this development.

“Furthermore, the level of available capacity identified is such that it would also be capable of absorbing additional pupil numbers arising from further small-scale housing provision within the catchment, without creating pressure that would necessitate a financial contribution toward new education infrastructure at this time.”

Ms James will tell councillors that the consultee responses and objections have been “carefully considered” and all relevant and material planning matters taken into account.

Ms James said: “Whilst the third-party objections are acknowledged, the site is a housing allocation in the adopted Powys Local Development Plan (LDP) which was considered at public examination.

“The proposed development will make a significant contribution to the LDP housing target.

“In the planning balance, it is considered there are no over-riding objections and mitigation measures can be put in place.

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“The recommendation is therefore approval.”