Guilsfield housing plan for garage withdrawn

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Outline planning permission to build a housing estate on the site of a former petrol station in Guilsfield has been withdrawn.

Fairview garage site owner Nick Bradley had submitted an outline application for the former Fairview garage. 

Mr Bradley bought the site in an auction back in 2015.

The site has been zoned as white land in the Local Development Plan (LDP), meaning there is a presumption in favour of development.

The proposal included room for 17 car parking spaces and the estate could be a mixture of one, two and three bedroom houses. Guilsfield Community Council had objected to the proposal.

They also believed that the site should remain for commercial use to help the future development of the village.

Council clerk, Jill Hollinshead, said: “Guilsfield Community Council believes that it would be helpful to the village’s long term development if the site could remain a commercial one.

“It is an ideal central location which could provide much needed commercial premises to help support and protect the village’s future development.

“Guilsfield is one of the largest villages in Wales and currently has very little in the way of commercial areas to support its structure.

“The site is central to the village, with existing adequate parking for this purpose. The location also allows all ages easy walking distance to it.

“The village is made up of a variety of different residential properties with a predominance of bungalows.

“A centrally provided commercial facility within easy walking access of most of the village would also assist in promoting the health and well-being of its residents and the environment.

“The village, currently, is only served at present by one small shop with very poor parking; whereas other local smaller villages have much larger services which appear to be commercially viable.”

It is expected that large villages such as Guilsfield, which had a population of 1,727 at the last census count in 2011, will drive 25 per-cent of housing growth in Powys during the next decade.