Housing development officially opened

14 November 2022

A new social housing development in north Powys has been officially opened by the county council.

Clos-Yr-Hen-Ysgol in Llanidloes has been delivered by Powys County Council's Development Team and was officially opened by Cllr Matthew Dorrance, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for a Fairer Powys, on Tuesday, 1 November.

The development, which consists of 22 new council homes on the former livestock market in the town, was built by contractors J Harper and Sons (Leominster) Ltd.

As part of the development, two four-bed houses, four two-bed houses, six three-bed houses, eight two-bed bungalows and two three/four-bed dormer bungalows have been built at the Gorn Road site.

The £3.9m development, which will be owned and managed by the council, will provide much-needed accommodation that will be available at an affordable rent and has been allocated to applicants on Powys Common Housing Register.

A £2m Welsh Government Town Centre Loan and £1.37m Welsh Government Social Housing Grant, secured by the council's Affordable Housing and Regeneration Teams, were used to fund the development.

Cllr Matthew Dorrance, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for a Fairer Powys, said: "I'm delighted to have opened Clos-Yr-Hen-Ysgol in Llanidloes and I would like to thank our construction partners J Harper and Sons for helping us deliver this social housing development.

"We cannot build the stronger, fairer, greener Powys we want without tackling the housing emergency in the county.  The only way we can achieve this is by building high-quality council housing.

"Not only does this development meet the needs of the local community but it is an important scheme that will help us tackle the housing emergency."

Mike Harvey, Group Commercial Director, J. Harper and Sons Ltd said "We are delighted to have worked alongside Powys County Council to deliver much needed, high-quality housing to help tackle the local housing crisis.

"It is a credit to the Council Members, funders, housing team and the community that such an important development could be delivered during these unprecedented times."

Cllr Gareth Morgan and Cllr Glyn Preston, county councillors for Llanidloes, said: "We're thrilled that the county council has built this social housing development, which has provided much-needed, high-quality housing facilities in our community.  We would like to thank the council and contractors J. Harper and Sons Ltd for their delivering this scheme and we hope that the tenants enjoy their new homes."