Plans to bring two prominent buildings in Mountain Ash and the Tonypandy area back in to use are progressing.
Both schemes will each be able to benefit from up to £250,000 of Welsh Government funding from their Transforming Towns and Valleys Taskforce initiatives. This funding provides support for developing and improving underused or derelict properties in bringing them back into use for a range of purposes.
Under the proposals, the Council-owned Mountain Ash Town Hall will be redeveloped via a long-term lease into a vibrant co-working hub with an on-site café and events space. Similarly, the Council is also working to secure the further funding to support the development of co-working spaces in disused properties within the Tonypandy area, as part of a separate major scheme under the Valleys Taskforce initiative.
Councillor Andrew Morgan, Leader of RCT Council, said: “Despite the pressures of the global pandemic, the Council is continuing with its ambitious programme of investment, with redevelopment schemes in and around our town centres very much a focal aspect of this.
“The proposed redevelopment of the Mountain Ash Town Hall will provide office space for prospective local businesses. The Council is also in the process of working to secure additional funding to support the progress of a similar scheme in the Tonypandy area, and further details will be made public as the plans develop and subject to the scheme being able to secure the necessary consents.
“The COVID-19 global pandemic has seen a marked shift in working patterns toward an emphasis on working as close to home as possible, and both of these schemes would offer attractive locations for local businesses to adapt to these new ways of working.
“Derelict and underused buildings can often be an eye-sore for communities and the Council is continuing to seek opportunities to secure external funding in order to redevelop these properties and bring them back into functional use where possible – as we are in the process of doing with the former Pontypridd Bingo Hall.”
