Machynlleth is set to get its first community sauna and plunge pools after the town council gave the initial go-ahead this week.

At the Machynlleth full town council meeting this Monday 25 March councillors gave a preliminary ‘yes’ to the Sawna Dyfi Project team for rented use of council land.

The Sawna Dyfi team hope that by setting up a community sauna on a small area of council land next to Y Plas town hall they will “activate a community space and bring an extra dimension to the strong local culture”.

The initial council decision is subject to the team meeting the council’s requirements including access and environmentally friendly heating methods, but will allow the team to seek funding and start to move forward in the work to create Machynlleth’s first town sauna.

Nick Broster, Rob Key, Nicola Farrington and Giulio Mescia created Sawna Dyfi
Nick Broster, Rob Key, Nicola Farrington and Giulio Mescia created Sawna Dyfi (Sawna Dyfi Project)

A spokesperson for Sawna Dyfi said: “We very much welcome the decision of Machynlleth Town Council to pilot a community sauna scheme.

“Sawna Dyfi sauna will be a fantastic opportunity for people to congregate and enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits of sauna and plunge pool use.

“There are still many steps to take before opening the facility, but we are super excited to move forward and get cracking on the setup. The heat is on.”

The new Sawna Dyfi
The new Sawna Dyfi (Sawna Dyfi Project - Angry Dan)

Over the coming months, the team, Rob Key and Nicola Farrington from Ceinws and Nick Broster, Giulio Mescia and Kim Bryan from Machynlleth, will be establishing a bilingual social media presence to keep people updated on developments and will be out on the high street engaging residents about the project. The team have been waiting for the decision from the council since January when they first pitched to rent council land for this pilot project as an independent CIC.

The council have now initially agreed for the project to go ahead, with changes to the project including making the saunas electric rather than wood-fired to address air pollution concerns.

The team aim to make a bilingual accessible community space offering refreshments for bathers, low pricing and concessions for those who support the community.

They also aim to host events and support tourism in the area over the summer months.