GWYNEDD Cabinet members have been asked to approve a plan to sell a former Aberdyfi school for only just over half its market value to secure more affordable homes for the town.

Gwynedd Council wants to sell the former Ysgol Aberdyfi site, which closed in 2013, directly to social housing group Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (CCG) for £187,000 after they promised to develop 11 affordable houses on the site that would be let on social rent.

In a report to be put before Gwynedd Council members on Tuesday, 8 May, CCG said that buying the site at the low price would make the scheme “financially viable”.

Despite having a market value of £320,000, the importance of having affordable homes on the site that local people can afford outweighs the drop in price, the report said.

Gwynedd Council said there is “an urgent need for affordable housing in the area” with the average property price touching £290,000 – 7.2 times the average income in the area.

If the plan gets the go-ahead, it will be the first social housing development in Aberdyfi in over a decade.

Aberdyfi councillor Dewi Owen said he was “very supportive” of the scheme.

“The site is an ideal one and 11 units will be beneficial to the village economy.

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Read the full story in tomorrow’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News