Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Cabinet has this week (9 March) unanimously approved plans to develop and construct a new visitor centre at Parc Penallta, Ystrad Mynach.
The new multi-purpose visitor centre will be delivered in partnership with Welsh Government and will act as a community hub and discovery gateway for the Valleys Regional Park initiative and provide a potential home for their ‘guardian scheme’. It will incorporate education and conferencing facilities, a café, toilets, showers, and act as health and wellbeing hub.
Designs for the centre incorporate sustainability and future proofing; utilising local building materials, such as larch timber felled in Parc Penallta. The timber will be seasoned and milled locally to a suitable specification for cladding, as part of the Wood-Lab-Pren Rural Development Project.
Cllr Nigel George, the council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for parks and countryside, said “As one of the borough’s most popular country parks, the addition of a state of the art centre will greatly enhance the visitor experience at Parc Penallta.
“The enhancement of this country park will reinforce the importance of our environments and landscapes, the health and wellbeing of our communities
and contribute towards a strong identity for Caerphilly County Borough, the Valleys
Regional Park and Wales as a whole.”
“The use of local supply chains is also important to us by maximising the investment being made and creating a multiplier effect within our local economy.”
