Patients and medical staff have praised initial designs for a new medical centre in Llanfair Caereinion after they went on public display.

The proposed site for the town’s modern primary care service is located on land near Watergate Street; which is on the edge of Llanfair Caereinion and overlooks the Banwy Valley.

The new building will provide a wider range of health services in the community, with up to date consultation, treatment, admin and training areas in a modern and energy efficient setting.

Developers aim to complete the building in the summer of 2021.

Patients living in and around the town were invited to a drop-in session by Assura, Powys Teaching Health Board and architects Stride Treglown to express their views on the plans and the project’s next steps.

Hazel Davies, a Llanfair Caereinion resident for 60 years, says the medical centre will be “brilliant” for the town.

“Any town would love to have this building,” she said. “I think it’s an amazing design. They will have so much more space, which is what they need.

“It’s not a blot on the landscape. It’s not like a big block of flats. It blends in.”

Mrs Davies, who also serves as a Town Councillor, added: “People are reluctant for change. I’ve lived here for 60 years and it’s time to move on with the progress. It’s not going to be an eyesore. It looks a very handsome building and it will be naturalised as it matures.”

Chairperson of the town council, Cllr Kate Roberts agreed saying that there will be better and safer access for patients and staff.

Cllr Roberts added: “It’s progress. You have to move to the future.”

Caereinion Medical Centre currently serves up to 5,700 patients who live in one of the most sparsely populated areas of Wales.

It has taken 10 years for plans to develop from the medical practice’s initial wish for improving its facilities to getting Powys Teaching Health Board on board with the project and appointing a developer.

Dr Alun Jones-Evans, a GP partner at Caereinion Medical Centre for 20 years, said the new plans are “definitely exciting”.

“It’s definitely good news for the town and the wider area,” he said.

“We’ve had a big input into the design. It’s been very much a collaboration with the health board and the architects and us to get to this stage in terms of the layout. What’s always on our mind is how things are going to progress and how much space we will need in the future.

“It’s a bigger building, it might look imposing, but it will look a lot more modern and it’s a much more spacious building.

“There’s been a lot of discussion with the reception area. It will feel a lot more open and make patients feel easier to talk to reception because there won’t be that physical barrier, although it will overlook the waiting room and corridor.”

The next stage is for planning permission in the first quarter of 2020. Contractors aim to finish the new building by mid-2021.