FISHGUARD'S former infant school site is earmarked for an 18 bungalow housing development with the facilities to support elderly or disabled tenants, the Western Telegraph has learnt.

The 1.7 acre site was on the market for the guide price of £295,000.

Last month's meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council's cabinet heard that a developer had been selected following a marketing exercise with legal negotiations now underway.

Nigel Sinnett, group property services director for Ateb, formerly known as Pembrokeshire Housing, confirmed that the organisation was currently going through the legal process to purchase the site, subject to planning consent.

He said that plans were "significantly advanced" for the site and were currently for 18 bungalows; a mixture of one and two bedroom dwellings which will all be compliant for use by elderly or disabled residents.

The site had also been of interest to Cohousing Hafan Las, which wanted to establish Wales' 20th co-housing scheme there.

Co-housing schemes are made up of self-contained, private homes clustered around a common house/ community hub where members can share meals, skills and activities.

There were plans for properties to both rent and buy on the Fishguard site and to build houses that were affordable and environmentally sustainable with renewable energy, insulation, natural lighting, a car share, shared and private gardens rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling.

The group had commissioned Pat Borer, an award-winning architect from the Centre of Alternative Technology, to create initial designs for the site.

The hope was to create a multi-generational community creating and managing the project.

"We really put everything into it," said the group's Eleanor Clegg. "We are currently looking for another site."

Mr Sinnett said that the potential of using the site for co-housing was "still being explored".

"There is still potential for discussion, but it is not in our plans at the moment," he said. "Our current plans are to develop one and two bedroom bungalows as affordable rented accommodation that could be offered to elderly or disabled tenants."