Housing plans for former Ty Gwyn site in Cwmbran revealed

Housing Association Bron Afon began work on a planning application to build 15 homes at the site of the former Ty Gwyn residential home, in Fairwater, Cwmbran, in October last year. 

But the proposal was held up as Coed Waun-fyr which forms the eastern and southern boundary of the site is an ancient woodland and also designated as an important urban open space and a site of importance for nature conservation. 

In March, Torfaen borough councillors were told the potential impact of construction on the woodland had delayed the planning process. 

Detailed plans have now been submitted to the planning department on behalf of Bron Afon which purchased the site earlier this year from housing association Hafod which had run the Ty Gwyn home before closing it in August 2020. 

A design and access statement said it is intended to create a “high quality sustainable development” that will “address the local housing need by making positive use of a vacant site, whilst also enhancing the gateway to the town centre from the north”. 

It is intended to develop eight one-bedroom apartments, three three-bedroom and two, two-bedroom homes as well as two, two-bedroom bungalows and it’s proposed all will have solar panels with the buildings a mix of one and two storey in height.

A bird's eye view of how the development at Ty Gwyn could look. (Image: Torfaen County Borough Council.)

The application is seeking the demolition of the care home as well as landscaping works and states 22 parking spaces will be provided for residents with a further four spaces for visitors. 

The existing road that served the former home and is still used for access to the Ty Gwyn Bungalows, from Ty Gwyn Way, will be extended into the site with the housing built in separate blocks around it. 

Some trees on the boundaries of the site will be removed but the application states “the vast majority of existing trees are to be retained” and there will be no public footpath through the site for security reasons.

The site is described as close to shops and other amenities in the centre of Fairwater and Cwmbran High School and well served by local buses running to Cwmbran town centre. 

The Ty Gwyn home closed in August 2020 as the building was said to have reached the end of its life. A year earlier users of a care website had ranked Ty Gwyn as one of the 20 best care homes in Wales. 

The application is being considered by the planning department and members of the public have until Wednesday, September 4 to comment on the plans.