PROPOSALS for a 14-storey apartment block next to Newport’s George Street Bridge will go before city councillors next week – but planners are recommending that permission be refused.

The 151 feet (46 metres) high block, earmarked for Coverack Road, would contain up to 77 flats, but only 50 parking spaces are proposed, and parking issues are the main reason why council Planning chiefs want the proposal turned down.

The site is that of the former Uskside Paint Mills, and has been cleared of buildings for several years.

Twenty letters of objection have been sent to the council regarding the plans. The applicants, referred to in the planners’ report as Messrs Webber and Hill, commissioned a detailed site survey last year, prior to submitting the application.

A perceived lack of parking is among the issues raised by objectors, along with fears that there is already an over-abundance of flats along the riverside, that the building will be unsightly and an overdevelopment of the site, that crime and anti-social behaviour might increase, and that an increase in traffic on Coverack Road will be dangerous, especially for children.

Gwent Police, while not objecting to the plans, have urged that serious consideration be given to the potential for crime in a council ward – Victoria – where crime levels are above average compared to the rest of Gwent, and rising.

Ward councillor Mike Hamilton is among the objectors, calling the proposal “a ludicrous over-development of the site.”

He, too, is questioning the need for more flats, though he has no objection to a development of houses “in line with what exists on Argosy Way or Coverack Road.”

Not part of the formal plans at the moment, but indicated as a possible future inclusion, is a pedestrian link on to George Street Bridge.

This would require Listed Building Consent, given the bridge’s Grade Two-listed status.

Planning officials believe that the development would not have a significant adverse effect on other residents in terms of overlooking or overshadowing, and that redevelopment would improve the area’s appearance and help the regeneration of the Usk riverside.

But with parking issues outstanding, they are recommending refusal.