SIGNIFICANT concerns have been raised over the potential impact of plans to expand a school car park on an area of woodland.

Blaenau Gwent council is proposing to increase parking provision at the recently opened Six Bells School in Abertillery, increasing the number of spaces from 49 to 62.

Currently, the majority of parking is provided outside of the school site and is available to the general public as well as to those attending the school.

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Ten of the 49 spaces are reserved for the Ty Ebbw Fach cafe, while just three spaces are provided within the school site.

Concerns over the arrangement have prompted the council to lodge plans to expand the parking area.

The proposed car parking area would be built partly within the approved school site and partly into an area of woodland crossed by footpaths.

The council’s landscape officer says a number of trees would be lost as a result.

“The visual impact of the extended car park will be seen as an intrusive feature by the users of this route, including the regular park run,” the landscape officer says.

“It is unclear from the layout how the proposed facility will connect to the existing cycle way to the east of the site. It appears to override and replace rather than connect to it.”

Levels across the application site are said to “vary significantly”, which means “a significant area of vegetation” and several trees will need to be removed.

Footpaths will also need to be re-aligned, according to a planning report.

But planning officers have recommended the application is approved at a planning committee meeting on Thursday.

While the loss of trees and “disturbance” to the existing woodland is “regrettable,” the scale of loss is not deemed enough to justify refusal, they say.

However, the report reminds councillors that parking for the school was deemed adequate at the time it was approved, and that parking problems could ease over the coming months.

Councillors are advised to weigh up the need to “address a perceived shortfall of car parking in the area” with the impact which could result from “the loss of a landscaped area that currently provides a pleasant setting for the school and wider area.”