A PLANNING application has been submitted to convert Aberystwyth’s old library into two “high quality” apartments while retaining and restoring its listed features.

The old town library on Corporation Street, which Ceredigion County Council stopped using in 2012 when it moved to the town hall, was at the centre of controversy in July when a group who were interested in purchasing the building for community use accused the council of a lack of transparency.

The group, led by Amy Daniel, made the claims after she said she was stopped from viewing the library, advertised for sale with Jim-Raw Rees and Cooke & Arkwright at £250,000, just before a bid was accepted from an unknown buyer.

Now, an application has been submitted to turn the old library into two “high-quality” three-bedroom apartments across two floors, with the applicant, named as agent Geraint Hughes, vowing to renew the most important features of the Grade II-listed building.

The Design and Access Statement reads: “Significant works are required, not least: to restore and to preserve the facade (some of which is crumbling); to reinstate the Art Nouveau foliage, tiled dado ornament in the hallways and Art Nouveau lettering on the facade; to remove the UPS glazing installed by the council which is inconsistent with the listed nature of the library; to replace the rear flat roof through which there is significant water penetration; as well as more generally to repair the partially corroded steel frame structure.

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