A former doctor's surgery looks set to be transformed into a residential care home after plans were submitted.

Dyfi Valley Health closed its branch surgery at Glantwymyn last July, blaming the difficulty of recruiting GPs to rural areas. The services were centralised to Machnynlleth.

Now an application has been submitted to Powys Council by Dafydd Evans, who wants to turn the building into six bedrooms, and build an extension providing 12 more to create an 18-bedroom care home.

Also a two-bed flat will be provided on the lower floor for a manager or member of staff to live on site.

George Tomos of Machynlleth based architects, George + Tomos, said:  “Since the relocation of the GP surgery to Machynlleth conversations were had regarding converting it into a residential care home, likely to be for patients suffering from dementia.

“This was met initially by a positive response from the planning officer.

“We have since discussed it with a local care home manager and they confirmed there was a demand for this sort of accommodation in the area and that this site would be very suitable.”

Mr Tomos added: “The proposals have been designed to have as little impact on the existing building as possible.

“All areas joining the existing building are single storey flat sections to avoid effecting the existing roofs.

“The only external change to the existing building is the enlargement of an opening to the north-west elevation.

“The main section of the extension consists of three storeys, one of which is partially below ground.”

Mr Tomos adds that “large areas of glass” will not only provide lots of “natural daylight” for the building but also “amazing views.”

In 2017, Glantwymyn Health Centre took over Machynlleth Health Centre, which at that time was managed directly by the Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB).

This merger created Dyfi Valley Health and at that time there was confidence that they had the staffing in place to maintain services at both premises.

But soon afterwards opening hours were cut due to staffing issues.

In January 2019 Dyfi Valley Heath submitted a bid to PTHB to close the surgery – which was accepted.