HERITAGE groups have labelled the planned renovation of a former Grade II listed chapel in Porthmadog as “heavy-handed” and “hugely destructive”.

Plans to convert the disused Capel y Garth into nine homes with parking were approved by Gwynedd Council’s planning committee on Monday.

Calls have been made for the chapel (pictured), closed since 1999, to be redeveloped after it became an “eyesore” and was left to deteriorate into a state of disrepair, with the plans supported by Porthmadog Town Council.

The Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, built in 1898 by Owen Morris Roberts of Porthmadog, will now be redeveloped by Dream Lets Limited, of Colwyn Bay, but two heritage groups said the development was “completely unacceptable”.

The Victorian Society and the Ancient Monuments Society said the loss of the chapel’s pulpit, and building an entrance through the building’s facade would be “seriously damaging”.

Read the full story in today’s Arfon/Dwyfor edition of the Cambrian News