THE approved plans for a hotel and spa on the Hadnock Road have been ‘called in’ by the Welsh Government.

Despite unanimous approval in October by Monmouthshire County Council’s planning committee, the Welsh Government has confirmed that they wish to subject the application to further scrutiny despite the significant tourism, site regeneration and compelling economic benefits of the plan put forward by Alchemy Hospitality Management Ltd.

An independent planning inspector will now review the plans.

Having a hotel on a flood plain is seen as ‘vulnerable’ despite the margin of a seven hour warning from levels upstream. It was hoped by the developers that having the hotel and its car park sitting on a raised area would allay concerns over any potential flooding risks.

Although the outline plan to build a 60 bedroom hotel and six apartments with spa at Valley Enterprise Park had serious objections from Natural Resources Wales, county councillors backed the plan claiming the economic benefits of tourism and the jobs created would outweigh the flooding risks.

Jan Kitcher, managing director of Alchemy Hospitality Management Ltd said: “We are obviously extremely disappointed that the application has been ‘called in’, and are now carefully considering the written response from the Welsh Government and clarifying the subsequent process, timescales and implications of the ‘call in’, which will result in further significant delays and costs, and with no certainty of approval.

“There has been overwhelming support for the hotel and spa project during our 14-month Public Consultation which began back in January 2015, and we would like to thank everyone who has supported it, including local residents and businesses, Monmouthshire Planning Committee Members, Monmouth Town Council and Monmouth District Chamber of Trade and Commerce,” she added.