A DEVELOPMENT for more than 100 houses in Caldicot has been refused by Monmouthshire councillors.

The outline application was refused by the planning committee this week for the site at Garthalan Drive which is situated on a brownfield land between Caldicot and Rogiet.

The outline plan for the 2.7 hectares site included 102 dwellings which consisted of 82 houses and 20 maisonettes on the site which was formerly railway land.

A petition containing 30 signatures from residents in Caldicot was submitted at the meeting by councillor Patrick Maycock-Jones, of Caldicot town council, in favour of the application due to the land being ‘neglected’ and currently ‘misused.’

Cllr Frances Taylor said: “Effectively the area is a wasteland. The land is incredibly visible to the people living behind it who say there’s dumping of rubbish and scrambling of bikes. I think that needs to be taken into some consideration.

“There are pressures in other places,we ought to be developing brownfield sites first and putting them to use.”

The plans included two play areas which would be located close to the entrance and to the western end of the housing site. The site partly encroaches on a green wedge of land which is closer to Rogiet. It also lies within a C1 coastal flood zone.

Cllr Roger Harris, member for said: “There is absolutely nothing going for it terms of the green wedge. I agree that 100 houses is far too many for that site. If it was developed there should be far fewer houses than that.”

Seven councillors refused the application and two abstained from the vote. The development proposed access from Garthalan Drive and a new access route off Betjeman Avenue would be created.

The site which is currently disused and overgrown is in close proximity to the main South Wales to London railway which runs on an embankment immediately to the south of the site.

Planning officers recommended the application for refusal with environmental health officers stating the former use of the site as railway land gave rise to the possibility that the site might be contaminated and the proposed use as a residential would be vulnerable to such contamination.

Caldicot and Wentlooge Internal Drainage Board pointed out in the report that the site is at high risk of flooding and the proposed development could affect the board’s operational interests.

The Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust noted in the planning report that the site was located in an area known as the ‘fen edge’ where a potentially important archaeological resource may be situated.