A TECHNICAL failure prevented a milestone planning decision from being viewed live on a council website. 

Councillors met on Tuesday afternoon (September 6) to consider a plan for a ‘zero carbon home’ on current agricultural land, south of Trecastle Farm, at Llangovan, some two and a half miles from Raglan in Monmouthshire. 

Though developments in the open countryside aren’t normally allowed, the application, by Paul Trotter, has been made under the Welsh Government’s One Planet Development policy. It is thought to be the first submitted under the scheme in Monmouthshire. 

Introduced in 2011, it aims to encourage developments that meet 65 per cent of the residents’ basic needs from the land within the first five years, including income, energy and food. 

The plan for the 14-acre Trecastle Wood site is for a development that would support a single family, but was put before the council’s planning committee due to a number of objections. 

But those tuning into the council’s YouTube channel, where council meetings are streamed live, were left disappointed, as once the countdown to the highly-anticipated meeting finished, all they saw was a still photograph of the Severn Bridge. 

Senior council planning officials were among those left frustrated by the failure of the stream, as they were unable to follow the meeting from their offices. 

Patrick Hannay, of Abergavenny, had also been hoping to view the meeting as he has been following the One Planet application. 

Mr Hannay, who is the editor of Welsh architecture journal Touchstone, is also involved in sustainability groups in Monmouthshire and had been keen to see the outcome of the application which had been listed for approval subject to a legal agreement.  

He is also a director of Our Food 1200, which aims to ensure 1,200 acres of land in Monmouthshire and the Brecon Beacons National Park is accessible to small scale growers and regenerative farmers by 2030, and of Abergavenny Transition Town, which has more than 200 local members committed to promoting sustainable environments and the transition away from dependence on fossil fuels. 

He had also submitted a supportive comment as part of the planning process and said: “Most of the One Planet Developments already up and running in Wales are in the south west, west and north west, but not in the east.” 

Mr Hannay said he was frustrated, but this is the first time he hadn’t been able to follow a planning meeting on the council site. 

He added: “It was of enormous interest to see if the council would pass what I thought was maybe the first One Planet Development in Monmouthshire. It has taken a long time for such a project to come forward.” 

Monmouthshire council has said a recording of the meeting will be made available.