Despite dozens of objections and concerns that a town doesn’t have the infrastructure to deal with a huge influx of people, Powys planners will advise councillors to agree a massive housing development there.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s (PCC) Planning Committee on Thursday, December 18, councillors will consider a proposal for 153 homes at a site in Ystradgynlais.

In August, fresh proposals to develop land west of the former Penrhos School on Brecon Road in the town emerged for an application that Persimmon Homes West Wales had originally lodged with PCC in January 2023.

This saw the need for a new consultation to take place on the new larger proposal which is for more housing.

The new plan is for 153 units for the site, when it had originally been for 134.

These will be a mix of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom dwellings. 18 of the units will be one-bedroom flats.

The proposal in 2023 followed an earlier application by Persimmon Homes for 42 homes – referred to as phase one – which received planning approval in August 2022.

The proposal has been “called in” front of the Planning committee by Cllr Huw Williams (Labour – Abercraf and Ystradgynlais) due to the: “proposed scale of the development and its effect on nearby residents.”

In February 2023 Cllr Williams had also asked for the original smaller development to be called in as well.

The report by senior planning officer Catherine James notes that 42 objections has been lodged against the application.

The reasons given for objecting to the plans include: “the increased danger of flooding, traffic, pollution loss of privacy more open space needed, noise nuisance, over development, strain on existing community facilities, inadequate sewerage system, potentially contaminated land and lack of affordable housing.”

Ystradgynlais Town Council discussed the refreshed application at a meeting in October and while not coming out against the development, councillors raised a number of issues they have with the proposal.

The council said that “concerns over public services in the community being overstretched” and they feared the current infrastructure would be “unable to cope” with the increasing population.

The town council wanted to see a s106 contribution made by the developers to go towards local infrastructure and services.

Ms James said: “Whilst the 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.”

She explained that on “planning balance” the objections could be overcome by putting in place “mitigation measures.”

Ms James said: “The recommendation is therefore approval subject to the drafting and signing of a Section 106 agreement.

This could see contributions made towards upgrading the facilities at Penrhos Playing Field.

Persimmon Homes will also have to comply with 30 conditions that will be placed on the planning permission if agreed by councillors.