A HOLIDAY let is to be built in the garden of a home where planners had previously given permission for a four or five-bedroom house.
Permission was originally granted in 2018 for the construction of two houses with four or five bedrooms in the garden of Llewetrog, in Middle Coedcae Road, Blaenavon, and a further application, in 2013, amended that to add a single-storey extension to one of the houses.
Torfaen Borough Council’s planning department has now approved an application to replace one of the houses with a single-storey holiday let, with construction work on the approved plans having started but not yet completed.
Due to the gradient of the land, the holiday let will be built into the hill and form part of a retaining structure with access from a cul-de-sac, Brookside.
An objection claimed the main property doesn’t have lawful access to Brookside and raised concern over maintenance of the road but planning officer, Mia McAndrew, said in her report that isn’t a planning issue.
An objection from the council’s highways department was also discounted as it had misunderstood the proposed access which Ms McAndrew said is the same for the approved house. If the holiday let was rejected the “fall back” position would be the previously approved home, which would likely be a “more intense use”.
Four Sycamore trees and one Leyland Cypress tree have been removed during the ongoing construction works, with only their stumps remaining and though policy requires three trees are planted for each one lost applicant Robert Jones said there isn’t room to plant 12 trees.
Instead mixed native beech and hawthorne hedgerows will be planted on the site boundaries which the council’s ecology officer has said is acceptable.
Parking will be on an existing driveway and also to the front of the building and the location is considered “sustainable” as it is close to the town centre and facilities and there is a local bus service.
Ms McAndrew said: “There are many tourist destinations near the site for visitors, including the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre and Ironworks.”