A Machynlleth councillor has criticised the town council for “gifting” a piece of land to the county council for a new cemetery.

The current Machynlleth cemetery only has a couple of plots left and plans to extend the cemetery on land within the Plas Machynlleth grounds, on farm land adjacent to the Deildy, were approved by Powys County Council on 22 February. Construction of the cemetery must start within five years of this date.

Ownership of the land was transferred from the town council to the county council for free.

During a full council meeting on Monday, 26 April, Cllr Gareth Jones said: “I’ve had all kinds of people since the March meeting contact me regarding the cemetery land. Not so much the cemetery, everybody understands the need for a cemetery.

“What they are puzzled by, because they have heard me asking the council so many times, is why the council decided to gift the land to Powys County Council.

“I have not had an answer from the council.”

Cllr Tony Jones said: “When we started it, we had a meeting with Powys County Council and they said they had a plot in Newtown and they said they were going to use that plot.

“I said, at the time, I didn’t want people from Machynlleth, if they wanted to take flowers to the grave, having to go all the way to Newtown.”

Cllr Gareth Jones asked: “Has Machynlleth Town Council got anything at all in its records from Powys County Council to say it would not buy that land?”

Cllr Tony Jones responded: “All I know is that they had a space in Newtown.”

Cllr Tony Jones added he was “well aware” of Cllr Gareth Jones’ concerns, saying: “My concern at the time was I didn’t want the people of Machynlleth to go to Newtown to bury their loved ones.”

“But we are going to people cap in hand for money for the town clock and we just gave away a piece of land,” Cllr Gareth Jones said.

Mayor Cllr Richie Gaskell concluded: “I felt a bit of pressure that if we didn’t act on it sooner rather than later they would have had people buried in Newtown.

“We made the decision. Whether we made the right decision – we felt at the time we made the right decision to get a move on and get the cemetery built for the people in Machynlleth.”