A ROW of “eyesore” garages in Penparcau that are a “magnet for anti-social behaviour” will be demolished and replaced with flats, after plans were approved, despite local opposition.

The former garages at Heol Dinas are to be replaced by a three-storey building, reducing to two and one-storey with the contour of the land, with nine one-bedroom flats for socially rented housing next to Ysgol Gynradd Llwyn yr Eos.

Barcud – formed by the merger of Tai Ceredigion and Mid-Wales Housing Association – was given the green light by Ceredigion council’s Development Control Committee on Wednesday.

Local member Cllr Lloyd Edwards said there were “local concerns” over the plans, and he would have been calling for a public meeting about the development “if it wasn’t for covid-19”.

“I consider it an over-development of the site, not in keeping with the area,” Cllr Edwards said.

The housing association, which said the 38 garages on the site were “unsightly, unsafe and hazardous” and a “magnet for anti-social behaviour”, has been successful in bidding for a grant under the Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Programme towards the development.

See the full story in next week’s Cambrian News, out Tuesday evening