A petition has begun to 'Stop Monmouth Drowning', a plea by residents against the proposed 400 new homes on the Wonastow Road site owned by the Welsh Assembly.

The aim is to persuade the 43 Monmouthshire County Councillors to vote against that part of the Local Development Plan (LDP) when it comes before MCC on July 1st.

The petition has the backing of Monmouth town and county councillors, but that would not be enough when it comes to a vote at county level.

The LDP, if approved, would go before the Welsh Assembly who would then appoint an independent inspector to review and possibly rubberstamp the plan.

The worry is that even if the Wonastow site was withdrawn, the inspector may well override that decision and force Monmouth to takes it's share of the 8,280 new houses the South East Wales Regional Plan recommends for Monmouthshire.

Residents feel that if the houses are built, Monmouth will drown in three ways: from water run off from the site, from increased traffic and from schools overwhelmed by the extra pupils coming into the area.

Monmouth town and county councillor Bob Hayward suggested at a meeting of residents and councillors last Wednesday (1st June) that everyone should write to all 43 councillors stating their objection, which may persuade some of them to vote with Monmouth councillors and object to the inclusion of Wonastow.

For the full story see this week's Beacon