A TIMBER fence nearly seven metres tall at the side of a road intended to protect an ancient monument has been given planning permission.

Although the fence was put up without approval from council planning chiefs or the highways department it did have consent from Welsh historic buildings body Cadw.

Landowner Dominic Tye said the six foot, eight inch fence is required to protect the remains of a 460-year-old iron forge. The ‘Lower or Abbey Wireworks, in Tintern, was the first water-powered wire drawing works in Britain and was established in 1566.

His application for planning permission described the scheduled ancient monument as “precious” and also noted the wall alongside Forge Road is listed and said the fence is to protect them “from further tourism damage”.

Cadw, which approved Mr Tye’s application for scheduled monument consent before the fence was put up over four days in June 2024, told Monmouthshire County Council, which had to consider the retrospective planning application, the fence “was erected to stop intruders accessing the applicant’s land and damaging the scheduled monument.”

The Wye Valley National Landscape officer said while they would “ideally” prefer to see an alternative to close board fencing, with stone walling and hedgerows typical for boundary treatments in the area, they accepted timber fencing as a more economical and practical immediate solution to protecting the monument.

The council’s highways department had initially objected as it said though the fence is on the applicant’s land it also forms part of the highway meaning it would assume responsibility for maintenance which it said wasn’t in a position to do.

It instead suggested granting Mr Tye a licence which would indemnify the council against any maintenance responsibility but after he made enquiries the authority’s legal department said a license for the fence “would not be appropriate in this particular case” which resulted in the objection being withdrawn