THE proposed Dixton Road development which incorporated a hotel and two retail units and the promise of 55 jobs could have been dealt a major blow.

One of the concerns by the council’s planning department with the site at the northern end of the road was a potential flooding risk and an assessment by Natural Resources Wales - the Welsh Government’s environmental watchdog - was the one document which could make or break the major deal for developers Avenbury Ventures LCC.

Named Nelson Place, the long-awaited plans for the site next to Dixton roundabout in Monmouth would have a new and improved access and new landscaping, the developers were hoping the plans will be more palatable than the controversial 2013 proposal featuring a McDonald’s and a drive-through Costa Coffee shop.

However NRW object to the proposals maintaining that the flood consequence data used to support the proposal is out of date and the data has been superseded by modelling work for the River Wye which was carried out in 2017 and shows a greater risk of flooding compared to the 2015 data.

It was the NRW document that effectively scuppered the planned hotel and spa on Hadnock Road in February 2017 and looks to be closing the lid on the deal for Avenbury.

Flood levels calculated for the crucial one in 1,000 years flood event estimated the pub would flood to a depth just short of two metres, the retail unit would see 2.28 metres of water and the car park would have over 2.5 metres of flood water.

David Cummings, Chairman of Monmouth and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce said that the chamber has actively and vigorously opposed the development over the last five years. “Development of this site for retail, will create traffic, flooding and of courses competition issues with the businesses of our town,” he added.

“Some readers may be aware that apart from one letter of objection there has been no letters uploaded to the application in 2018 by MCC’s planning office and none for the developer or their consultants. One of the major obstacles for any developer to overcome relate to objections on flooding matters raised by Natural Resources Wales. Readers will remember that as a result NRW’s objections on the spa hotel project, the application was subsequently called in by the Welsh Government and rejected by the Minister even though the car park and hotel were situated above the one in 100 flooding event, plus climate change.

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“This week, I have managed to obtain a copy of a letter from Natural Resources Wales to Monmouthshire County Council’s planning department outlining their comments on the latest proposals by the developer’s consultant Fairhurst on flood risk, I believe it is in the public interest to make NRW’s comments in their five page letter of objection available to all.”