PLANS for as many as 250 homes to be built on the site of a former factory in central Newport will go before councillors for approval this week.

The Seren Group has applied for permission in principle to build 250 mostly affordable homes on the Pirelli site in Lliswerry.

Newport council planning officers have recommended to the authority’s planning committee that that plans be approved, subject to a legal agreement and certain conditions.

Work could start on the site next spring if the outline planning application is approved, with the first homes being built by the autumn.

A report to the planning committee said the site covers an area of 6.5 hectares (16 acres) and is part of the wider Pirelli Regeneration Scheme.

It is proposed that 200 houses and 49 flats would be built – 98 homes would be sold on the market, 30 would be socially rented while 121 would be in “intermediate ownership”.

Nine objections from residents were received including worries about traffic and parking in nearby Wednesbury Street, and concerns that flats on the site would encourage anti-social behaviour and crime.

However, officers state that the proposal will create parking and that the Highways department had not objected to the proposal.

It was also suggested that greater footfall in streets will “enhance passive surveillance” and so concerns over increased crime are not justified.

The site is contaminated, the report says, and it is proposed to cap it with clean inert material and it install anti-dig membranes in kitchen gardens to protect future occupants.

A legal agreement between the council and the developer lays out that Seren will provide a local play area and contributions for education as necessary.

The report to the planning committee states that there is a possibility of residents in the new development being affected by noise from the nearby Phoenix Park industrial site.

Officers recommended that the layout is altered so habitable rooms face away from the site, with an acoustic fence along the boundary.

Newport council planning committee was due to make its decision this morning.

If the outline application is granted further permission would be needed for the finer details of the plans.

* What do you think of the proposal? Leave a comment below.