TWO shipping containers placed in a front garden without planning permission can remain in place, planners have agreed.
The containers, which are 5.5 metres high and wide and have a combined length of 6.25m, have been placed together on elevated timber sleepers at the end of the garden in a house beside the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal.
The dark green containers are intended to be used for domestic storage and applicant Daryl Peploe has already started cladding them with composite timber panels to reduce the visual impact before seeking planning permission.
The containers are next to the next-door property’s driveway and outbuilding and it is also intended to add roller shutter doors which will face Mr Peploe’s home at Wern Road in Sebastopol, Pontypool.
One objection was received which raised concern at the height of the containers, their visual impact and described them as “overpowering and visible from the front door” of the next door house.
Torfaen Borough Council’s heritage officer Ross Cannon said with a condition to ensure the containers are clad as proposed in the application there would be no objection as it was considered they would have a “neutral impact on the character and appearance” of the canal conservation area.
The planning department has granted approval, in line with the submitted plans, and planning officer Caroline Pulley stated while the property isn’t listed it is within the canal conservation area and the council’s guidance states outbuildings shouldn’t normally be in front of a building.
But she said while the containers are in the front garden and “highly visible” from Wern Road, the area “functions as the principal garden space” due to one side of the house, which is set back 35 metres from Wern Road, fronting the canal tow path.
Ms Pulley stated in her report: “It is also recognised that the containers occupy a prominent position adjacent to the highway. Nevertheless, they are viewed within the context of a varied street scene characterised by a mix of building styles, outbuildings, garages and ancillary structures.
“Subject to the containers being fully clad in composite timber-effect panelling, the development is not considered to result in an unacceptable impact on the character or appearance of the host property, the wider street scene, or the setting of the conservation area.”
She also said the containers had been set in from the boundary and back from the highway limiting any overshadowing and overbearing impact and as they are north of the next door house any overshadowing would take place over the applicant’s own property.
An existing native hedgerow will be reinforced and new planting was also proposed in the plans which form part of the conditions of the approval.