MONMOUTHSHIRE County Council have agreed to open discussions with developer Melin Homes about the proposed handover of a redevelopment site in Portskewett.

The council cabinet met on Wednesday to propose that the Crick Road site be disposed to the developer in order to 'maximise social and capital value'.

The 27 acre site is listed as a ‘strategic development site’, with plans to build a ‘cohesive community that has regard to its place and its local context’.

Melin Homes, who have been appointed as the nominated Registered Landlord for the site by the council’s housing department, are proposing to construct a residential mix with 25 per cent affordable and the remainder open market sales to which will be constructed by their commercial arm, Now Your Home.

Both parties will look to adopt an open book approach where the site layout will be jointly dsigned based on the 'aspirations to develop a community'.

Councillor Peter Fox, leader of the council, welcomed the proposal with a developer that has recorded history with the council.

"As the local ward member I’m pleased to see this come forward a different approach," said cllr Fox.

"There is already a strong, cohesive community [Portskewett] there so I don’t think it would be hard to integrate even further.

"Melin, a great partner who we’ve worked with at a lot of levels, so I’m certainly happy to at least enter into those discussions to explore out the opportunities."

Despite the discussions being in its early stages, cllr Tony Easson emphasised that they must ensure that care is taken not to create the 'disenfranchised communities' mentioned in the report.

"This is an important development amongst the many developments in Caerwent, potentially Undy and maybe on the shipyard in Portskewett," he said.

"I think it's very important that these developments in and around the Caldicot area are looked at in this light.

"We’re talking over a thousand houses in the total area maybe 1500 children - are the schools going to be big enough and have we got the facilities to support them?

"Within the context of this development, that paragraph needs to be emphasised strongly with any developers.

Chief officer for enterprise at Monmouthshire County Council, Kellie Beirne told councillors that funding for the site would come from Section 106, not the Community Infrastructure Levy as cllr Easson believed.