Should Berriew Street toilets be flattened?

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

A toilet block should be flattened to make way for more car parking spaces to enable more people to use a Welshpool community centre.

Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet has received a proposal to build 32 affordable homes on Berriew Street car park which currently has 450 spaces and after the development is built, would be left with 56 spaces.

The toilets are currently closed and unlikely to reopen due to the cost, with cash-strapped Welshpool Town Council not having the money to sort them out.

But an issue with the scheme has been raised by the local Scouts group who have their headquarters the COWSHACC (1st Clive’s Own Welshpool Scout Headquarters & Community Centre) at the back of the car park.

The group have been in contact with the council on how the potential loss of car parking space will affect them.

Cabinet Member for Legal and Regulatory Services, Cllr Richard Church (Liberal Democrat), who represents Welshpool’s Castle Ward spoke at the meeting as a local member.

He said: “I welcome this development. This is a special opportunity to develop housing close to the heart of the town and to provide desperately needed good quality social housing.”

Turning to the letter from the Scouts group, Cllr Church continued: “The Scouts run an excellent and modern community facility that is used by many groups in the town, the plans show some parking spaces for them.”

He believed the council should meet the Scouts before a planning application is drawn up to “ensure” the parking provision left over in the car park “meets their needs”.

Cllr Church said: “We need to look at what we can do to maximise the car parking, hopefully removing the redundant toilet block there will provide more space.”

He added that he had heard “many positive comments” from Welshpool residents about the proposal.

“It is generally welcomed,” said Cllr Church.

Deputy Council Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing, Cllr Matthew Dorrance (Labour), explained the scheme: “There are currently 414 households registered on the housing waiting list that have specified Welshpool as their preferential choice area – it is the third highest area for demand in the county.

“We do face a shortage of land for development in Welshpool which is why I’m really pleased we have been able to work across the council to be able to identify this car park as a potential area for development.”

The cost of transferring the car park from the council’s Highways, Transport and Recycling Department to Housing is £280,000.

Cllr Dorrance also believed that youngsters who will eventually live at the completed development in the future could boost the Scouts group’s numbers.

Former Council Leader and now Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Cllr James Gibson-Watt (Liberal Democrat), said: “The creation of these houses will be a significant economic stimulus to Welshpool and help to fuel job gaps as hopefully it will attract people of working age to live in them.

He added that the lack of available housing in Powys “restricts the Labour market”.

Cabinet then went to a vote and supported the proposal unanimously.