AN unauthorised Gypsy Traveller site has won final approval after a nine-year saga., despite objections about potential river pollution from the local community council.

Planners approved an application for a Travellers site with four pitches for static or touring caravans on hardstanding opposite Llancayo House near Usk in July 2024.

Bu although the 0.44 hectare site – beside the B4598 Abergavenny Road at New Stables, opposite Llancayo House near Usk – was given the green light by county councillors, final permission couldn’t be granted, as an assessment of its potential impact on the River Usk Special Area of Conservation had to be carried out.

Llanarth Fawr Community Council claimed an unwillingness to “cap the number of residents” put the conservation site at risk, while “brick building work” had taken place” and there was a fifth caravan, stables, kennels and horses on site, “making a mockery of the planning process”.

But Natural Resources Wales has now signed off on the acceptable Habitats Regulations Assessment required for a new housing site close to a tributary of the protected river.

Phosphorous from drainage will be removed using a filter comprising a limestone bed which, the Nutrient Neutrality Assessment and Mitigation Strategy states, has an 87 per cent phosphorous removal rate.

Wastewater will discharge into a drainage field and Natural Resources Wales is satisfied it can accommodate wastewater from four pitches, each with their own day/utility room, intended to house between 16 and 18 people, though the maximum occupancy for the site has been agreed at 12 people.

Monmouthshire’s planning committee was told a horse had been brought on site to have a foal but had “now left as it was a temporary measure” and a fifth caravan was “temporary due to a family situation”.

Trudy Aspinwell-Moore, from the Travelling Ahead Gypsy Traveller advice service, said the applicants had worked with the council to address the issues and gain approval for the private site.