Plans to increase the care facilities at the site of a historic listed building in the middle of Brecon have been lodged with national park authority planners.

London-based Hapus Care Group has applied to build a single-storey extension at the back of the Grade II* listed Morgannwg House Care Home.

The extension would provide 10 en-suite bedrooms and extra living areas, as well as the associated hard and soft landscaping.

Planning agent Mark Heyes of 5373 Design + Planning explained the proposal in a planning statement.

Mr Heyes said: “Hapus Care Group purchased Morgannwg House late last year.

“The care home currently comprises 20 rooms, which, if fully occupied, would allow the home to break even.”

Mr Heyes said that due to periods when rooms were vacant, the home was struggling to make ends meet, which caused the previous owners to sell up.

He said this means that if Hapus Care Group is to maintain Morgannwg House “in an economically sustainable condition,” they need to increase the number of rooms available for customers.

This would be done in five phases, which include the eventual conversion of an “old gymnasium” building at the site for care uses and linking it to Morgannwg House.

There had been planning permission to convert the old gymnasium into care uses, but this has now expired.

Mr Heyes said: “Given the extensive site and garden, the amount of development proposed is considered acceptable, as it neither approaches over-development nor affects the amenity of any neighbouring sites.

“The scale of the proposed development is entirely single-storey, while it sits between two-storey neighbouring buildings.

“As a single-storey development, it does not affect the primacy on the site of the listed building, which still dominates the garden.

“The development is conceived as a low, sleek, self-effacing modern pavilion.

“Its flat roof adds to the low proportions and will provide an attractive appearance when looking down from the surrounding buildings, including in particular Morgannwg House.

“The lowness of the proportions is deliberately intended to enhance the primacy of Morgannwg House within the proposed grouping, together with its existing extensions and the disused gymnasium building.”

The target date for a decision by Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority planners is March 23.

Morgannwg House was built in the 19th century for a lawyer and his family.

It was given Grade II* listed building status in 1952 for being of special architectural, historical, and cultural significance.

The building has been used as a convent school, and when the site was split, Morgannwg House and other associated buildings were retained and converted to become a care home.

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An extension was built at Morgannwg House in the 1990s to provide additional living and bedroom accommodation.