The building is of the last unspoilt examples of a Victorian workhouse

The charitable trust behind Y Dolydd at Llanfyllin, near Welshpool, expects to hold talks with Heritage Lottery Fund chiefs next month.

The Grade II-listed building could be made into 25 apartments, and the rest developed for community use.

The building was a recent Welsh entry in the BBC Restoration series.

A public meeting in Llanfyllin, held on Monday night, heard that a formal application to the Heritage Lottery Fund was expected to be submitted in March, but exploratory talks could begin next month.

Approaches will also be made to a number of other charities in the new year by The Y Dolydd Building Preservation Trust.

Overall, people were pleased that a plan is in place John Hainsworth

It bought the workhouse last year with a �300,000 loan from the Architectural Heritage Fund.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has so far provided a �50,000 development grant to help kick-start the project.

John Hainsworth, chairman of the trust's development and finance committee, said at Monday's meeting: "Some people were naturally reluctant to see Llanfyllin expand but there was general recognition that there is no other way to save this very fine building.

"Overall, people were pleased that a plan is in place and that figures have been worked out to show that it is viable."

New homes

As well as 25 apartments, a consultants' report recommends that the ruined complex should be developed as a day nursery, workshops and offices and a training base for the charity Mencap.

A clinic for complementary medicine is also envisaged along with educational facilities, including an interpretation and archive centre.

The preservation trust said the expected �4.5m cost of the scheme could mean building up to a dozen new homes in a courtyard-style development at the side of the workhouse.

But the trustees said they viewed this only as a last resort.

Y Dolydd, which was built between 1838 and 1840 to accommodate 250 paupers, was featured in the BBC's Restoration series last year.

It was one of 54 workhouses built in Wales and continued until the poor law system ended in 1930.

It then operated under local authority control and later became a home for the elderly until its closure in 1984.

The building was bought by a group which wanted to use it as an outdoor pursuits centre, but the project failed and the complex fell into disrepair.