Posted on: Thursday 16 May 2024
Updated plans are to be submitted as part of the £9.3m Pontypool Cultural Hub and Cafe Quarter initiative.
Preliminary work has started on the plans for a new park-side café on the site of Hanbury Road public Toilets and for the Glantorfaen Road Car Park but changes have been made to the plans to minimise rising building costs.
The new designs – which will be submitted for planning approval this week – will see more of the toilet’s original 1950s building being retained, while the plans for the exterior of the car park have been simplified, and the number of electric vehicle charging spaces reduced from 10 to four.
The new plans still include key features of the projects, including a café and a kiosk to attract visitors to Pontypool Park into the town centre, two new accessible public toilets on Hanbury Road; as well as a new car park lift, new disabled parking spaces and accessible toilets in the car park.
Residents can view the applications and take part in a statutory consultation on the council's planning portal.
The Pontypool Café Quarter and Cultural Hub programme also includes the creation of a new cultural hub at the nearby St James Church.
Work is expected to begin on all three projects in September 2024.
Councillor Joanne Gauden, Executive Member for Economy, Skills and Regeneration, said: "Increasing building costs have pushed the cost of the original designs over budget. But the new designs retain the features included in the first proposals, such as an exciting new park-side cafe to attract more visitors to the town centre, new accessible toilets and disabled parking facilities.
"The Pontypool Cultural Hub and Café Quarter project is still on course to be completed by September 2025 and will create a range of new jobs."
Plans to transform the Grade II listed St James' Church into a cultural hub remain unchanged, and work is already underway to improve security measures at the former church site.
The Pontypool Cultural Hub and Café Quarter project has been awarded £7.6m from the UK Government's Levelling Up Fund, which aims to create jobs and grow the local economy.
Find out more about what the Pontypool Cultural Hub will have to offer.