CARDIGAN’S former police station and courthouse will soon have new residents as it is turned into a youth hostel and digital heritage centre by a social enterprise group.

Planning permission has been granted for 4CG to modify the buildings and create a 13-room hostel – Hostel Hedd – and hall, with work due to start in the autumn with a plan to be up and running by April next year.

An existing small extension will be demolished and replaced by a new access corridor.

Chairman of 4CG Shan Williams said: “Hopefully it will bring more life into the heart of Cardigan.”

4CG’s full name is Cymdeithas Cynnal a Cefnogi Cefn Gwlad or the Society to Sustain and Support the Rural Countryside.

It’s a co-operative organisation set up to “advance community development through the regeneration of Cardigan and the surrounding area”.

The plans, which include a digital heritage centre telling stories of the sporting, cultural and popular heroes of the town, were approved by delegation by Ceredigion County Council officers last month.

A communal hall is also included and the hostel – which will retain the police station cells – will be a draw for groups, holidaymakers and schools.

“Stories will be digitally told in the courthouse for holidaymakers to get a feel of the area – hopefully we will get a few stories from the lifeboat crew too” added Mrs Williams.

“We will keep the cells more or less as they are, I’m not sure if anybody will want to sleep in them! We will see how it goes.”

There will be a small garden area, and a space to securely store bikes and minibuses at the site.

See this week's South Ceredigion paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now