FAILURE to reach agreement on demolishing a garden wall has meant plans for a new house which have been nearly five years in the making have been rejected. 

An application for permission to build a house in the garden of a home named Shailee, in Upper Hill Street, Blaenavon was first put to Torfaen Borough Council in 2019. 

But it was rejected that July as officials said there was no way drivers exiting the site, via a private lane, onto Upper Hill Street, could have a clear view of oncoming traffic. It was also considered the house proposed at the time would be an “overdevelopment” of the site. 

Following that decision a new application was made the following year which proposed demolishing a garden wall, at a neighbouring property at Heritage Gardens, to increase the visibility for drivers leaving the development site. 

But planning officer Duncan Smith said applicant Mr J Watkins had failed to show he had reached a legal agreement with the owner of the property in Heritage Gardens on demolishing the wall.

As a result the planning department, this January, said it had to reject the application and Mr Smith wrote in his report: “It is considered this application should be refused in the absence of the applicant’s ability to implement the required highway improvements.” 

Mr Smith added that the house now being proposed was smaller than the one rejected in 2019 and that its double fronted pitched roof reflected “the character and appearance of the historic mine managers’ dwellings” in Blaenavon making it appropriate for the UNESCO World Heritage site.