Lake Vyrnwy lottery grant refusal for visitor attraction plan

Villagers were moved to allow the Vyrnwy dam to be built in the 1880s

Plans to boost tourist facilities at a Victorian dam in Powys have suffered a blow as a bid for lottery cash failed.

The RSPB has won permission to turn a 19th Century chapel into a visitor centre for a Lake Vyrnwy "experience".

The National Heritage Lottery Fund helped pay for initial work on the plan, but has refused the latest bid.

The team behind the project said it was "absolutely committed to investing in this wonderful site" and would take time out to reassess the situation.

The Grade I-listed Vyrnwy Dam was built between 1881 and 1890 and was the first large masonry dam in the UK.

When it was completed, the reservoir was the largest in Europe and provided water to the city of Liverpool via a 68-mile (110km) aqueduct.

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The old village of Llanwddyn was flooded following construction of the dam, with 37 houses, a church and two chapels among the buildings lost.

A new settlement had been built lower down the valley by the then Liverpool Corporation for the people who lost their homes.

Bethel Chapel, built in 1889 as part of the move, had been earmarked for conversion into an education centre explaining the history of the dam and the village, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The RSPB currently has a shop in an extension to the chapel

The chapel conversion plan has been approved by Powys County Council, which last September gave the go-ahead to proposals for an outdoor activity and events shelter at the lake's sculpture park.

However, in an update on the overall project, the Lake Vyrnwy Experience team said: "Unfortunately, our bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund has been unsuccessful.

"Despite this, we are still dedicated to working alongside the community to improve Lake Vyrnwy for those who live, work and visit here, and are absolutely committed to investing in this wonderful site.

"We will now take some time to work with our partners, funders and community to assess which of the other funding elements can still be retained and how we can deliver them."