A Buddhist retreat on the Powys border has been refused permission to build new accommodation for staff.

Satipanya Buddhist Trust, based near Churchstoke, wanted to build a single storey-timber framed accommodation block for the meditation centre's manager and visiting teachers.

Despite support from Churchstoke Community Council, the planning application was refused by Powys County Council because it proposes "unjustified and unsustainable residential development within the open countryside".

The planning officer said the proposed 19-metre by 4.6-metre wide development, which included a bathroom, kitchen, sitting room, veranda and two bedrooms, "would essentially result in the creation of a new self-contained dwelling house".

The site is surrounded by the existing centre and accommodation block to the west, by the centre’s grounds to the south and east, and by an area of woodland to the north.

According to its website, the Satipanya Buddhist Trust runs retreats "devoted to developing contemplative living and vipassana insight meditation in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma".

The Trust also has plans to install an air source heater, more solar panels, and acquiring the copse of wood and the large shed that borders the property.