Welshpool: £7.5m hotel, Greggs and Starbucks approved

The development will include a drive-through Greggs and Starbucks

Plans to build a £7.5m 40-room hotel with a drive-through coffee shop and bakery have been approved.

The application to build a hotel, Greggs and Starbucks at Moors Farm, Welshpool, had been withdrawn twice previously due to traffic concerns.

But Powys council planners approved the application after developers agreed to pay £20,000 towards path improvements.

The proposal could create up to 60 full and part-time jobs, and construction could see about 100 builders employed.

In August, Welshpool Town Council said it objected to the plans on the grounds of "negative environmental impact, traffic congestion, and health and safety" but was not against the proposals in principle, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But neither the Welsh government nor the local highways authority raised any objections, subject to the inclusion of several conditions.

The hotel development will be built on land at Moors Farm, Welshpool

Giving his reasons for approving the application under delegated powers, whereby a decision does not need to be made by members of the planning committee, planning officer Gwyn Humphreys said the new hotel would "cater to the gap" in mid-market branded hotels in the area.

"As such it is deemed the proposed hotel would add a new offer to accommodation within Welshpool," said Mr Humphreys.

The approval of the plans are conditional on the applicant, KIM Properties, paying £20,000 towards the improvement of the Montgomery Canal towpath's surface between Welshpool town centre and the hotel site.

A sustainable drainage system application will also need to be approved before work can begin.