Machynlleth Town Council should show its support for battling climate change by calling for all major new build and renovation development to include the best green standards, councillors have said.

The town council became one of the first in the UK to declare a state of ‘climate emergency’ in December last year with councillors saying they now need to demonstrate their commitment to that by asking for new developments to ensure they are both sustainably-built and energy efficient.

With the town council being asked to consider a pre-application into plans that would see the town’s former Travis Perkins site used to build new homes, Cllr Rhydian Mason said he would like to see the council ask Powys Council planners and developers to ensure that all developments meet high level green standards.

He said: “Bearing in mind what we said a couple of meetings ago about there being a climate emergency, should we have an en bloc, generic comments for new build developments.

“It’s one way we can say ‘this is what we’d like to see in Machynlleth’.”

Cllr Mason said the sort of suggestions the town council could make would be about making the development energy efficient and using renewable energy and sustainable materials, and said that many developments now work to such standards already.

Cllr Michael Williams said he felt that the town council could try and work with developers, especially when large scale projects are being put forward.

He said: “We want the development to be as green and as friendly to the environment as possible.

“We should discuss things with developers as and when applications come in.”

Clerk Jim Griffiths said he had already questioned if Powys Council would consider declarations of climate emergency when deciding on planning applications.

He said: “This being a large scale development, that could have an impact.”

The proposal for the empty site would see eight houses and 12 one-bedroom flats built with the site having been left empty for several years and councillors unhappy that it has become an “eyesore” in the town.