Sir,

Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) has made an exceptionally ill-informed judgment by passing the developer's current plans to build on the site of the old clinic on Dixton Road.

Those plans had previously been rejected after an expensive inquiry that we, as tax-payers, paid for.

The objections were not to the development itself, but to its planned access along the Burgage.

The independent investigator found the safety concerns of local residents were substantially correct and rejected the application.

Years later, essentially the same plans have been passed by MCC without any public consultation.

By overturning their previous decision, MCC has rejected the binding findings of the independent investigator who they appointed, the opinions of Monmouth Town Council and of local residents.

If they had a reason for doing so, it would be polite for them to make those reasons public.

The safety concerns behind the original rejection have since been amplified by the access route becoming a Safe Route to School and by increased traffic at the Town Gate by the Nag's Head pub – into which large vehicles already have to reverse from the Burgage.

Access to the site from the new Dixton Road would be far shorter, safer and simpler.

Legal advisors tell me that MCC has the power to "revoke, modify or discontinue" its planning decisions but that this should only be done in "exceptional circumstances".

May I suggest that this ill-informed judgment is just such an exception and ask them to remedy the error by revoking the ill-informed decision without delay?

Andrew Smith

(Monmouth)