Town Council secures £164k grant to ease Tourist Centre revamp concerns

Welshpool Town Council has secured a grant of £164,342 to cover the work being carried out to transform the Tourist Information Centre.

Councillors breathed a collective sigh of relief at last night’s last full council meeting of the year when Town Mayor, Cllr Nick Howells, shared the news following several weeks of financial woes at the local authority.

Only three weeks ago, the Town Council needed an emergency advance on its precept to cover its bills, and the escalating costs of turning the Tourist Centre into a multi-use facility that would house the Town Council offices as well as new inclusive toilet facilities was a cause for concern.

But it was revealed that previous Town Clerk, Anne Wilson, who retired last month, had applied for a grant to cover the work, and Cllr Howells broke the good news last night.

“We now have the Welsh Government Transforming Towns and Powys County Council grant approval for the sum of £164,342.22,” announced Cllr Howells. “This is a grant that the previous Town Clerk applied for and we got it. A nice bit of news for a change!”

He also added that they had been successful in a Local Places for Nature, Community and Town Council grant application for £5,000 which would be used to enhance wildlife at Memorial Garden at Howell Drive.

While the money was warmly received by councillors, Cllr Phil Pritchard wanted to know what would have happened for the cash-strapped council had the grant not been successful.

“If we had been turned down, we would have been in serious financial trouble,” he said.

But Cllr Ben Gwalchmai from the Finance Committee dismissed the claim and said the redesign would have reverted back to the original plans that was already budgeted for at £137,000.

The council’s Finance Officer, Vanessa Voysey, added: “If you hadn’t got it (the grant), we might have had to apply for a Public Works loan which, we wouldn’t have been in financial difficulty, but obviously the public would have had to pay that back over a period of years and it is better avoided, so it is good news.”

Cllr David France said it should be noted that Ms Wilson had left them on a “positive trajectory” and “we should take a moment to be grateful of good news of this magnitude”.

Last month it was decided that a Town Council Working Group would oversee the completion of the Tourist Centre work, that will now be completed in the new year.