A PLANNED demolition of five homes on the site of a huge fire in 2007 is set to be considered by planning councillors.

Newport council is planning to demolish five vacant properties on the city's Marlborough Road.

A "prior approval" application, seeking approval for the method of demolition and the restoration of the site, will be before planning councillors on Wednesday.

Officers have said that the proposal method of demolition of the site is acceptable, a report to the committee said.

The report said that three of the five properties are in a particularly poor state of repair, and all are currently unoccupied.

It said the bulk of the houses in the terrace were demolished a number of years ago as they were deemed to be a health and safety risk to the public following severe structural damage resulting from the 2007 fire.

It's proposed to demolish the five houses down to the topside of the building slabs.

Any waste will be removed, and demolition is expected to take 30 days.

A bat survey of the buildings found no bats or evidence of use by bats.

Newport council's cabinet approved £85,000 of funding for demolishing houses on Marlborough Road in April.

The council had been in the process of buying the properties, and had reached an agreement with affordable housing provider Fairlake to build family homes to replace the 13 houses destroyed by the blaze in the summer of 2007.

The matter will be considered by planning committee councillors on Wednesday.