Plans to turn a “financially unviable” Ceredigion holiday complex into housing, with a third of them affordable, have been submitted to county planners.

Applicant Jacob Hughes, of Morgans Hotel, seeks permission from planners for the change use of Parc Teifi Chalets, Bridge Street, Pontrhydfendigaid to 10 semi-detached houses and five one-bed apartments, the latter being affordable units.

A supporting statement through agent JMS Planning and Development says the overall visual design of the existing holiday complex, sited near the Red Lion pub in the village of ‘Bont, will remain the same, other than fencing and individual parking spaces.

It says: “The supplementary evidence submitted with this application demonstrate that running Parc Teifi as a sole holiday complex is not financially viable. During the past four years there has only been one instance where all 10 holiday units were full and that was due to a block booking by a company who attended the National Eisteddfod in Tregaron in August 2022 –a one off event in the area.

“The site and village lacks facilities for large accommodation such as this, with lack of night time economy, it is usually the case that larger parties focus their search for accommodation towards the larger towns and cities or on holiday camps such as [Pembrokeshire’s] Bluestone or Centreparcs.

“The evidence demonstrates that Parc Teifi is widely advertised, nevertheless the bookings and income does not fulfil the demand for any of the units. Even though the company which owns and runs Parc Teifi is well established in the tourism industry and know their best marketing tools and approach, nothing has worked on this site and it has failed over the years to become a successful business.

“Year-upon-year there are less bookings and higher costs involved in the running of the units.”

In the last three years the business has been running at an extensive loss as costs outweigh the total income, the statement says, with occupancy at its highest in 2022 out of the last three years at only 27 per cent occupancy rate.

“The client is seeking an alternative use. The properties are all set up as dwellings as they are self-contained, have their own parking and garden area and can therefore be easily used as dwellings to meet the shortfall of housing delivery in this service centre and provide a portion of affordable housing. The only change would be their use class from holiday accommodation to C3 (dwelling-house).”

The statement says the current open-market value of the houses is circa £170,000, and the flats at £65-£70,000, which would be discounted by some 30 per cent, selling for £49,000.

The application will be considered by Ceredigion planners at a later date.