Members of Welshpool Town Council's planning committee say a scheme which would bring a 40 bedroom hotel to the area would do "nothing for the town."

At a meeting on Wednesday, September 22 councillors once again unanimously decided not to support the plan, having previously declined to support a similar application last year.

Last week, developers revealed fresh plans for a national chain hotel the area near Buttington Cross, on the A483, which also included a drive-thru Greggs and a Starbucks coffee shop.

No planning application has yet been submitted, but the town council was asked to comment on the scheme as part of a pre planning application exercise.

However concerns were expressed that the development would take away trade from the town centre - and may lead to the closure of independent food businesses within the town.

Town Mayor Alison Davies said she saw no reasons to support the revised scheme, which she said would do "nothing" for Welshpool as a town.

"This application was before us in a different form with 60 bedrooms about a year ago and at that time we did object and there were ten reasons for that objection," she said.

"We have two large empty buildings, and one pretty empty large building - all with parking facilities, all could be converted into hotels and they're all in the middle of the town.

"They would all benefit the town - this will do nothing for the town."

Councillor Geoff Lanagan said he believed it would take business away from the centre of the town and continue the trend of out of town shopping, which the town council was trying to discourage.

"The other issue is that we've already had tremendous issues with McDonalds at that particular roundabout," he said.

"From my reading of the application they propose an access off the same roundabout - I don't think that amount of traffic is bearable."

Councillor Richard Church added: "I would agree. There have been reports of traffic complaints at McDonalds since they opened and this is going to put a lot of additional traffic onto that roundabout and Rhallt Lane, which is quite a narrow little lane.

"I would support a new hotel, I think it's something the town needs, I just wish that we had it in the town centre so that the users of that hotel could benefit from the facilities that we have. I welcome the hotel but I think it's in the wrong place."

Councillor Harry Evans added that the town needed an affordable hotel, but expressed concerns about the possibility of additional retail units at Buttington Cross.

"It(the hotel) does need to be in the town centre and I don't think we need another Greggs when there's one within the town centre - are they going to look at then closing that? It's another empty shop on the High Street (if so), and there's all the coffee shops in Welshpool that will get taken out by the Starbucks as they arrive."

The decision not to support the application should it be brought forward was unanimous.