An application has been put forward by Barratt Homes to build 370 homes on the controversial Wonastow Road site which forms part of the Local Development Plan (LDP).

The proposal includes 6.5 hectares of 'employment and associated infrastructure' allowing for warehousing and commercial units to be built alongside the residences.

Town planners turned this application down at Monday's meeting (3rd June) until a special meeting has been convened to give a more detailed appraisal of the application.

Monmouthshire County Council's Planning Committee, however, cannot consider this application until the preliminary examination on the LDP, currently ongoing, has been concluded.

The Welsh Assembly's Planning Inspector, Sian Worden, has spent two weeks dealing with "matters fundamental to the soundness of the LDP". The inspector has so far determined that the plan – which allows for 4,000 houses to be built on the four 'candidate sites' around the county, Wonastow being one of them – has a shortfall of 900 houses and suggests that some of the sites should be extended.

The inspector has asked the council to not only identify extensions to the existing sites but "other additional sites".

This may explain why surveyors with theodolites have been seen around areas of Monmouth, Hereford Road being one of them, as development companies look to take up the extra houses that it seems will be allowed for in the town.

As Monmouth is a popular place to build houses as house prices remain high in comparison to the rest of Wales, it seems likely that the town will be on the receiving end of an estimated 1,500 houses over the next few years.