Plans for first phase of 266-home development submitted to Monmouthshire council

Outline permission for the development on Rockfield Farm, located between the Rockfield Grove housing estate and the M4, was granted earlier this year.

Now a reserved matters application has been submitted for the first phase of the project, which includes building 144 homes on the 13.8-hectare site.

Under a design statement prepared on behalf of Bellway Homes, 25 per cent of the development would be affordable homes.

These would consist of 12 one-bedroom flats, seven three-bed houses and one four-bed house.

Meanwhile the private houses would consist of six two-bed houses, 43 three-bed houses and 59 four-bed houses.

Parking will be provided by a combination of garages, parking spaces and driveways designed to provide a smooth surface, free from loose stones, under the plans.

A distinctive ‘green corridor’ will be incorporated into the development, creating a number of green gateways into the new residential areas.

Planting of trees, shrubs and hedges will also play an important role in “visually softening” the new development, according to the plans.

A new junction on the B4245 will provide the main access to the first phase of the development.

The Elms will also undergo upgrade works, while an existing public footpath crossing the site will be diverted slightly under the plans.

“The ultimate aim of this application is to provide an attractive and safe residential environment that is accessible to all,” the design statement says.

The site is one of four in Monmouthshire County Council’s Local Development Plan which has gained planning permission this year.

It is limited by a “safeguarding area” for the proposed M4 relief road which would be built to the north of it.

There is also a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation situated to the west of the land, which is owned by MCC, and a woodland known locally as ‘Breezy Bank’.

View the plans at monmouthshire.gov.uk, searching reference DM/2018/01606.