TWO new homes will be built on the site of a demolished house despite objections from 10 neighbours.
Permission was first given for a two-storey home in the garden of a property named Rosemary on Osbaston’s Beaufort Road, Monmouth, in 2020, with approval to demolish and replace the original in 2022.
Monmouthshire Council planning officer Phil Thomas said those permissions remain “extant meaning they can be implemented”, but the new designs reduced the height and width of the property fronting Beaufort Road, flanked by residential properties.
As a result, a new access for the home in the back will be created between it and neighbouring property, Downlea, while access for the front property would be on the other side.
The council planning committee was told the garden house would be now be further from a neighbouring Charles Close property, and at the same distance from another, while both homes will have off-street parking.
Mr Thomas said: “The plans are acceptable infill adhering to the suburban nature of this area.”
Committee chairman, Caerwent Conservative Phil Murphy, said Monmouth Town Council had objected but when told there were existing permissions “seemed to understand a bit better.”
Labour’s Croesonen member Su McConnell said: “I understand people are unhappy but they’re getting less development than they would have got.”
Wyesham Independent councillor Emma Bryn asked if grasscrete, which allows grass to grow in gaps between concrete casts, could be used for the extended drieveway.
“That would improve biodiversity and reduce noise from vehicles,” she said.
Retaining and improving the hedgerows boundaries would also protect privacy which neighbours had objected about.
Mr Thomas said there would be a condition on soft landscaping and a condition for hard surfacing would have to be agreed, but could be added.
Permission was granted subject to a section 106 agreement that requires applicant, Dr R Handley of Levitsfield Close, Monmouth, to contribute around £9,600 towards local off-site affordable housing.