Previously approved plan for 8 homes in Abergavenny could be refused due to flooding and drainage issues

Planning permission for eight new homes in Abergavenny could be overturned due to flooding and drainage concerns.

A plan for eight homes on the land near Cross Street in Abergavenny, was given the green light in 2015 by Monmouthshire County Council’s planning committee. But, this was dependent on an agreement being signed by the applicant guaranteeing that one of the homes would be affordable and financial contributions of £31,360 towards public open space facilities and £5,984 towards children’s play.

The section 106 agreement was not signed within the five-year limit.

Now, six years on, the application is being reconsidered by the planning committee and has been recommended for refusal due to a change in legislation around flood plains and drainage.

If given the go-ahead the site would benefit from a one-bedroom flat, a two-bedroom flat above four car ports, and six three-bedroom homes.

The 2015 application showed there was no flood risk for the homes, but there were concerns over the shared access and car parking areas. 

However, because of the “shallow depths of flooding” and the development could be “favourably considered” due to the affordable housing element, Natural Resources Wales advised they could not substantiate an objection.

Since then, legislation changes mean that there does not need to be a balancing act and there is no need for the affordable housing element to be considered favourable – there is now reasonable grounds to object to the application.

There are also concerns about drainage.

The report says: “This application proposes to connect to the main sewer which connects to the Llanfoist Waste Water Treatment Plant.

“This facility does not yet have phosphate stripping technology and therefore the possibility that additional waste water flows from the proposed development could lead to additional damaging effects to the River Usk special area of conservation cannot be ruled out.”

Phosphate is a chemical, which is useful for plant growth and nutrients, but can cause problems when it becomes to concentrated in water environments.

Too much phosphate can cause excessive growth of algae and other plants and can affect water quality.

Because this development cannot be ruled out from increasing levels of phosphate into the River Usk’s special area of conservation, Monmouthshire planners have included it as a reason to refuse the application.

A decision will be made on the application in a planning committee meeting on Tuesday (July 6).