£7.5m hotel and retail plans submitted for Welshpool

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans for a  £7.5 million, 40-bedroom hotel, a drive-through Starbucks coffee shop and Greggs bakery (pictured) development for the outskirts of Welshpool have been lodged with Powys County Council.

The application by KIM properties is for land at Moors Farm, Rhallt Lane, to the west of the A483, and could create 60 full and part time jobs.

Earlier plans for a larger hotel on the site were withdrawn last year amid concerns over the traffic capacity of the existing island at Buttington Cross.

The proposal would see the lime kilns located there kept, but the cottage at the site would be demolished.

Agent Eric Hall, of TDH Estates Ltd, explained the proposal which comes in two phases in a planning statement.

Phase one would see the Starbucks and Greggs built first over an eight-month period, while the hotel would take just over a year. Mr Hall believes this would create “around” 100 construction jobs.

Mr Hall said: “Once operational, the various uses would support around 30 full time jobs in the two drive throughs with an additional eight jobs in the hotel.

“Overall, around 60 full and part time posts.”

Mr Hall said: “It is likely that all staff will be locally based and would benefit from the employment and training initiatives run by each of these companies.”

Another advantage to the site is the number of people who drive past daily – with the site sitting on one of the main routes from England to Wales.

According to a Design and Access statement, the site is at a “pinnacle point” of traffic travelling from Oswestry and Shrewsbury into Wales.

Mr Hall said: “An enormous amount of road traffic bypasses Welshpool towards Newtown and Llanfair Caereinion.

“Moors Farm therefore is ideally situated to provide facilities to the local economy by boosting tourism in the form of a drive-thru coffee house, hotel and a well-established food retail unit such as Greggs.

“The location of the fringe of town livestock market and business park has set a precedent for future development in this location and indeed an access road from Buttington Cross Island already serves the business park and adjacent Lime Kilns.”

The proposal will be decided by Powys planners at a future date. If approved, this would be the latest development for the area following a Harry Tuffin’s petrol station and convenience store being built and opened last year, alongside a McDonald’s drive through restaurant.

Back in October it was revealed that detailed plans for a Costa Coffee drive through restaurant on the roundabout opposite the Livestock Market to the east of the A483 had been lodged with the council. This proposal could create a further 11 jobs.