The Welsh Government has given the go-ahead for a learning and leisure community campus to be developed in a north Powys town.

Powys County Council is planning to build a new £48 million state-of-the-art replacement building for Machynlleth's Ysgol Bro Hyddgen. The Welsh Government is providing over £31m towards the project, under the 21st Century Schools programme.

The council's combined Strategic Outline Case (SOC) and Outline Business Case (OBC) have been approved by Education Minister, Kirsty Williams. The council will now progress to Full Business Case (FBC) stage of the project.

The new, purpose-built campus will include a 620 place all-through school with early years facilities along with leisure and library provision. It will also be designed to meet Passivhaus accreditation meaning it will have high energy efficiency standards, significantly reducing energy for heating and cooling, cutting the building's CO2 emissions.

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The facility will be located on the current secondary campus playing fields with the existing school building being demolished to accommodate the new community campus.

The plans for Ysgol Bro Hyddgen will help the council deliver its Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys, an ambitious 10-year strategy that was approved earlier this year (April).

Cllr Phyl Davies, Powys County Council's Cabinet Member for Education and Property, said: "I'm delighted that the Welsh Government have approved our ambitious plans for Ysgol Bro Hyddgen.

"Not only will we be providing a truly community-focussed facility, Ysgol Bro Hyddgen will also be the first all-through Passivhaus school with a swimming pool and leisure facilities in Wales and in the UK.

"The Welsh Government's approval will represent a huge investment in our school infrastructure.

"Providing high quality teaching and learning environments is one of the aims of our Vision 2025 and our plans for Ysgol Bro Hyddgen will help us deliver this vision."