A CRUMBLING former ironmaster’s mansion could be restored as part of plans to breathe new life into a town centre.
Torfaen County Borough Council is seeking £27 million from the UK Government’s Leveling Up fund, which replaces the European Union cash the county had previously been dependant on, for the regeneration of Blaenavon and Pontypool.
The £19m plan for Blaenavon House, which became a hospital and then a residential home before it closed in 2006, has been listed as a key project in the plan to rejuvenate the centre of Blaenavon.
The house, and its grounds, also known as Ty Mawr (big house) have been included in the redevelopment plan at the suggestion of those who gave their views on the proposals over the summer.
Built for ironmaster Samuel Hopkins in 1798 the house remained in the ownership of the Blaenavon iron company and was used as a base for directors during the summer grouse hunting season during the Victorian period as well as a family home for directors and managers.
In the 1920s it became the base for the Blaenavon Medical Aid Society, a forerunner of the NHS, and was used as the town’s hospital until 1980 when it became a residential home.
But it has fallen into disrepair and is described as in a “dilapidated state” on a key approach to the town centre from the north.
It is hoped restoring the house and grounds could “significantly increase footfall” in the town centre and the amount of time and cash visitors spend there as well as creating new employment opportunities and better link the town centre with the World Heritage attractions.
Other key projects for Blaenavon in the plan, which is intended to guide how funding is spent through to 2032, include enhancing its “underwhelming” southern entrance by improving the pedestrian environment and making better use of Market Street Square by also using the car park for events and reducing the speed of traffic.
In Pontypool it is planned to revitalise, ‘The Link’ a public space between the town centre and the Tesco supermarket car park, with a canopy cover and permanent kiosk serving food and drinks and outdoor dinning in the hope it will attract Tesco customers into the centre.
A café quarter would also be created on Commercial Street as part of plans totalling £7m.
The existing police station, which the plan says has been “earmarked for closure”, could also be replaced with an “Integrated Active Travel Hub” with a bus station, charging points for buses and cars, and cycle hire and storage. The nearby Glantorvaen Road Car Park, at the Civic Centre, could also be redeveloped.
‘Placemaking plans’ for both towns have been prepared as part of the bid for funding and they are being presented to the council’s cabinet on Tuesday, October 18.
Both plans, for Blaenavon and Pontypool, identify the need to bring poorly maintained privately owned buildings up to standard and for it to work with local communities and groups to maintain public spaces.
Torfaen’s ruling Labour cabinet is being recommended to approve the plans for both Blaenavon and Pontypool when it meets on Tuesday, October 18. The plans will then have to be approved by the full council.
