THE sale of Machynlleth’s Plas stables and kennels has been put on hold after the town council agreed to a last-ditch attempt to find another use for the historic building.

Machynlleth town councillors had agreed that the building, which is in a poor state of repair, should be put up for auction after attempts to find a purchaser or tenant to take on the building and bring it back into use stalled.

But that auction date will now be put off for a period of at least three months after Cllr Simon Morpeth and Cllr Andy Tack said heritage body CADW could provide a free architectural assessment and identify possible future uses, as well as help the town council to find grant funding to renovate the building.

While councillors voted in favour of delaying any move to auction to see if the stables building could be retained and brought back into use, Cllr Glenda Jenkins and Cllr Michael Williams warned that the situation could not be allowed to continue on a long-term basis because the building was deteriorating.

Cllr Tack said the delay would allow CADW specialists time to assess the building and make possible suggestions for alternative uses and avenues for grant funding to pay for work.

He also warned that taking the property to auction could see the building snapped up by a property speculator.

He said: “We as a council will lose any control over who it’s sold to. You run the risk of a speculator buying it, leaving it for years to let it fall down and then putting up a block of flats."

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