MORE than £2.7 million is being set aside by Powys County Council (PCC) to build a Bulking Waste Facility at Abermule Business Park.

On Thursday, January 24, county councillors will be expected to discuss and approve the transfer of funds, known as “Virement”  over to next year’s budget.

It is expected that people from the Abermule Communities Together protest group will be at the meeting.

Before the agenda gets to the “Virement” – several questions will be asked by protesters on the hot topic.

The report by Portfolio holder for Finance, Cllr Aled Davies (Conservative – Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant/Llansilin), said: “This report is to request a capital virement for the Abermule Business Park to be transferred from 2018/19 to 2019/20.

“Following the  completion of ecological surveys it was identified that ecological mitigation works were required prior to undertaking works to discharge planning conditions.

“The main contract works will now not start until the new year to allow the mitigation and planning discharge works to be completed and it will therefore be necessary to roll £2,723, 482.33 of  the budget to 2019/20.”

Since the planning committee approved the Bulking Waste Facility application by just one vote in August 2018, the council has received heavy criticism from protesters in the village.

Villagers believe the Transfer Facility they plan to build is far too big for Abermule and  should go on an industrial estate.

In December 2018 at a packed public meeting in Abermule Recycling and Assets portfolio holder, Cllr Phyl Davies (Conservative Blaen Hafren), gave villagers hope that the development might not happen if they could find a similar site so that the development could be moved there.

Council officers have stressed that the facility  would help the authority deal with hitting Welsh Government recycling targets of 70 per-cent by 2024/25.

They believe the recycling bulking facility is “essential to maximise the efficiency” of the collection vehicles and is: “ideally located between the two main population centres of north Powys.”