Changing times for railway station

Work will start in August and should be finished a year later

A multi-million pound cash injection is set to transform a derelict railway station into a recycling centre.

Part of Aberystwyth railway station has been disused for more than a decade, but a £2.6m project will turn the building into a centre that repairs furniture and electrical goods.

Voluntary organisation Ceredigion and Furniture Team - Craft - has finally secured grants to kick-start the scheme which will create 13 new jobs.

At present Craft, which employs 12 people, is based at another site in Aberystwyth.

The work will provide much needed employment, training and volunteering opportunities for disadvantaged local people Andy Rendell, Craft

According to Craft co-ordinator Andy Rendell, the move has been instigated by a need to expand the burgeoning business.

"Local residents will be able to bring their unwanted furniture and other reusable household goods to the centre which will then be restored and sold at affordable prices to people in particular need and to the general public," he said.

Volunteering opportunities

"In the process, the work will provide much-needed employment, training and volunteering opportunities for disadvantaged local people."

Work on the disused railway platform will start this August and will take a year to complete.

The new centre will provide an information centre open to visitors at the platform with a furniture workshop built of recycled materials and a turfed roof built next to it.

Funding for the scheme includes £1.5m of European Objective 1 money, £500,000 from Ceredigion council and £280,000 from the National Lottery.

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