Plans to build 300 homes on the former site of Aberdare Hospital have been revealed.
Details of the proposed residential development on the 36-acre grounds in Rhondda Cynon Taf were announced online by WDL Homes Ltd on Monday, February 28.
Based off Abernant Road and close to the town centre, the time scale for the project will start with a 'community and planning engagement period' set for this spring, with local residents invited to view and comment on the plans at the nearby Sobell Leisure Centre on both Wednesday, March 2 and Thursday, March 3.
The aim is to then submit a planning application in early summer and, if greenlit, construction on the development will look to start in summer 2023.
Access would be via the existing hospital entrance, the plan being to 'make good ' and 'reinstate' its longstanding metal gates and railings, while a bus link and cycle path are also to be made available through the site.
Building would also take into consideration existing woodland and wildlife habitats in the area, part of former hospital grounds having been designated a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC).
Aberdare Hospital had a long history in the valley prior to its closure and demolition in 2012.
It was first opened on July 19, 1917 by Joseph Shaw, chairman of the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company - it's main building (Abernant House) having been bought from the Marquis of Bute in the early 1900s for the grand sum of £1,000.
Over the decades it expanded, treating thousands of patients throughout the Cynon Valley until , in September 1929, much of it was destroyed by a major fire.
It was later rebuilt and reopened in April 1933 by HRH The Duchess of York , later to become the Queen Mother, and it continued to operate until 10 years ago when it was replaced by a new state-of-the-art facility at Ysbyty Cwm Cynon in Mountain Ash.
To read more about the planning proposals, click here.
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