Two new houses are set to be built on the yard of the old Post Office in Llanidloes – despite concerns being raised over potential ground contamination.

Powys County Council has granted conditional consent to build a pair of semi-detached houses near the old Post Office on Church Street, despite concerns being raised over a former wash-down and fuel storage area.

The plans submitted by Hamco Developments Ltd on behalf of their client Mrs Turner of Llanidloes, would see the the houses being built in the yard/car park of the building.

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In the plans submitted to the council, Hamco Developments said: “The site was used as a parking and delivery yard for the Post Office which formerly ran the site.

“As part of this application there is demolition of the existing concrete garage building and single storey storage sheds to north of the site.

“The garage building was for the repair of the Post Office fleet vehicles.

“As part of this development proposals is the re-position of the access to the rear of the post office yard, leaving sufficient parking for the existing post-office building.”

The new buildings will be a wood-based design “using timber frame, timber cladding, non-oil-based insulation such as ‘Warmcell’ achieving a Greenguide rating of A to A+.”

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However a report by Powys County Council’s Contaminated Land Officer raised concerns over potential pollution caused by the fuel that may be in the soil at the site and could affect the ground water in the area.

In their report they said: “In consideration of the information submitted and the sensitivity (residential) of the proposed development, it is recommended that planning application should not be approved until the appropriate investigation, assessment and requirements for remediation (including tank removal) of the underground fuel tank area have been undertaken and determined.”

In a statement accompanying the decision to grant permission, the planning officer for Powys County Council said: “It is appreciated that the developer has worked with the council to undertake further risk assessments of the site in response to the previous comments of the Contaminated Land Officer.

"The information to date is not considered to meet the requirements of Policy DM10 to demonstrate that either there is no risk from potential contamination sources or any risk can be appropriately remediated. As such, contaminated land conditions will be included within any grant of consent."