A CONTROVERSIAL hospital site in Talgarth has been bought by a Herefordshire developer, residents discovered last night.

Pontrilas businessman Phil Collins told more than 100 gathered in the town hall that the sale of the former Mid Wales Hospital was due to be completed on February 21.

The Collins Design & Build Ltd proprietor reluctantly told locals around 100 houses could be created but stressed the 11-acre site was an "unimaginable mess" and as such it was still too early to make definite plans about anything.

"Tonight is a reminder of what this means to so many people so it's obviously a daunting responsibility to take this thing through," he said.

The former psychiatric unit provided employment for a huge proportion of townsfolk before it closed in the late 1990s.

Major controversy then came when it went to a former chief medical officer at a price many considered to be vastly undervalued.

Various attempts to turn the site into a business park also failed before it was put up for sale in 2009, and more recently its most valuable materials have been stripped by thieves.

For a full report on the meeting and more pictures see next week's Hereford Times.