A PONTYPOOL care home could be expanded to provide seven extra beds, after the council decided to sell off a former nursery.

The former Brynteg Nursery site in Abersychan will be sold to the neighbouring Ty Bryn care home so it can expand its accommodation and provide more parking spaces.

Brynteg Nursery closed in the summer of 2018 and has been vacant ever since.

The 0.5 acre site – around the size of eight tennis courts – has been considered surplus to council requirements since January 2018.

However, following informal planning consultations, Torfaen council’s highways department said the potential use was limited to a single building because of the poor visibility at the junction between Brynteg and High Street.

The site currently doesn’t have street access and there is a large one metre drop between the main road and the front of the nursery grounds, which would be costly to change.

When the site was a nursery, there was only pedestrian access so there has never been a vehicle access.

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The proposal from Ty Bryn would not require a new access as “there is already vehicular access into the care home grounds that can be easily extended across the boundary into the nursery site”.

A report on the proposal says: “No other adjoining premises enjoy this physical advantage with ground levels for vehicular access.”

The nursery site will cost Ty Bryn £40,000 and they have outlined plans for a single storey building on the same footprint as the existing nursery.

It would provide seven ensuite bedrooms, a lounge for residents and an office. Some additional car parking spaces would also be created.

The report says: “The care home has undertaken pre-application consultations for its proposed plans to redevelop the nursery site and received positive feedback, enough to give them confidence to undertake the purchase.”