Infill housing on Beaufort Road, Osbaston approved
Planning officer Phil Thomas said those permissions remain 'extant meaning they can be implemented' but said the new designs, which needed approval from Monmouthshire County Council's planning committee, reduced the height and width of the property fronting Beaufort Road and which is flanked on either side by existing residential properties.
As a result a new access for the home in the back garden will be created between it and neighbouring property, Downlea. Access for the front property, on plot one, would be on the other side of the house.
The committee was told the garden house would be now be at a greater distance from a neighbouring property, on Charles Close and maintained at the same distance as the previously approved plans from another and both homes will have off-street parking.
The bottom end of the site won't be developed and there will be no lighting on that part to protect wildlife.
There were no objections from statutory consultees such as highways and Mr Thomas said: 'The plans are acceptable infill adhering to the suburban nature of this area.'
Committee chairman, Caerwent Conservative Phil Murphy, said Monmouth Town Council had objected but said when it was explained there were existing permissions 'they seemed to understand a bit better what was going on.'
Labour's Croesonen member Su McConnell said: 'It is a more modest proposal than the original. I understand people are unhappy but they are getting less development than they would have got with the planning permission already approved.'
Independent councillor for Wyesham Emma Bryn asked if grasscrete, which allows grass to grow in gaps between concrete casts, could be used for the extended driveway she said: 'That would improve biodiversity and reduce the noise from vehicles.'
She also said retaining and improving the existing hedgerows boundaries would protect privacy which neighbours had raised as an objection.
Mr Thomas said there would be a condition on soft landscaping and a condition that hard surfacing would have to be agreed could be added. The application including the additional condition were approved unanimously.
Permission is subject to a section 106 legal agreement that will require applicant, a Dr R Handley of Levitsfield Close, Monmouth, to make a contribution of around £9,600 towards off site affordable housing in the area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
22 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Boosting productivity will be main priority of autumn budget, Reeves says
Rachel Reeves has promised to use her autumn budget to prioritise fixing Britain's dismal record on productivity as she sought to downplay mounting tax speculation with a focus on economic growth. Setting out her priorities for the budget for the first time, the chancellor said tackling the efficiency of the economy through higher investment and a fresh assault on planning rules would form the backbone of her tax and spending plans. Writing exclusively for the Guardian, she said: 'If Labour's first year in power was about fixing the foundations, then the second year is about building a stronger economy for a renewed Britain.' However, Reeves pushed back against what she called 'speculation' over tax increases being explored by the Treasury to close a yawning gap in the public finances that is estimated to reach more than £40bn. 'The months and weeks before any budget are filled with people speculating about – or claiming to know – what tax and spend decisions I will take or what the Office for Budget Responsibility [OBR] will conclude,' she said. 'This budget is no different – I get that. I will set out the decisions I take in the responsible manner.' The chancellor's comments come as the government braces for gloomy official figures that are expected to show the economy narrowly avoided flatlining in the second quarter. With Labour under mounting pressure over its management of the economy, City forecasters predict that Thursday morning's update from the Office for National Statistics will find that GDP rose by 0.1% in the three months to June. The UK outpaced its G7 peers in the first quarter with growth of 0.7%. However, experts have blamed tax increases announced by Reeves in her first budget, last October, and Donald Trump's trade war for a marked hit to activity. The chancellor, aiming to shrug off the anaemic performance, argued the government was taking steps to break a 'cycle of low growth' in which Britain had become trapped under Conservative governments. Laying out one of the central themes of her budget, which could be held in November, Reeves said the government would aim to boost the productive capacity of the economy by allocating investment for infrastructure projects and ripping up planning rules. 'If renewal is our mission and productivity is our challenge, then investment and reform are our tools,' she said. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Earlier on Wednesday, the Guardian revealed that Keir Starmer was preparing to revive plans for the Northern Powerhouse Rail project, which would improve transport connections between the main cities of northern England. Reeves has ordered Treasury officials to draw up proposals for slashing additional red tape in the UK's planning system to speed up large infrastructure projects. 'We are providing that investment and unblocking the barriers to it too,' she said. Successive chancellors have pushed to solve what economists refer to as a 'productivity puzzle' that has contributed to the UK's sluggish growth since the 2008 financial crisis. Productivity growth is considered one of the key determinants for raising living standards and wages over the long term. However, progress to drive up the measure of output per hour of work has stalled in recent years. The chancellor's renewed focus comes as the Treasury braces for a potentially devastating downgrade in productivity forecasts from the OBR, which could blow a £20bn hole in the chancellor's tax and spending plans. With the shortfall made worse by a weak growth outlook, higher debt interest payments, and a series of U-turns on welfare cuts, Reeves and the prime minister are laying the groundwork for tax rises and changes from September, before the autumn budget. The Guardian revealed on Tuesday that the Treasury was looking at ways to raise more money from inheritance tax to reduce the deficit. Labour MPs have been pushing the idea of a wealth tax, but changes to inheritance tax thresholds could be similarly controversial. Sarah Coles, the head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said it was 'hardly surprising' that inheritance tax was 'back in the frame'. It is among a limited suite of taxes that can be changed, despite the government's commitment to not increase the basic, higher or additional rates of income tax, employee national insurance or VAT. 'The system is so fiendishly complex that there are an enormous number of rules, and therefore tweaks, that the government could consider,' Coles added.
The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
UK could fail to meet commitment to spend 80% of foreign aid on gender equality projects
Ministers are considering scrapping a commitment to spend 80% of foreign aid on projects supporting gender equality, the Guardian has learned. Critics warned the move could worsen the impact of Donald Trump's rollback of funding for diversity and aid projects abroad, which has affected maternal and reproductive health services in developing countries. The Conservative government committed in 2023 to ensuring that 80% of the Foreign Office's bilateral aid programmes have a focus on gender equality by 2030. Labour ministers reaffirmed the commitment earlier this year. Stephen Doughty, a junior Foreign Office minister, said ministers would continue to work towards the target in March, even after the government had announced it was cutting international aid from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP to spend more on defence. Under the target, 80% of aid spending must go to programmes that have gender as a component by 2030, though it does not need to be the main focus. David Lammy, the foreign secretary, told MPs last month that he could not 'commit to decisions made by the last government' and it was 'for us to look at this afresh'. The government spent £15.3bn in aid in 2023, the latest year for which final figures are available. Of this, £10bn was bilateral aid spent directly on projects in developing countries, instead of multilateral institutions such as the UN. Provisional figures suggest that the UK's aid spending fell to £14.1bn in 2024, an 8% decrease on the previous year, with £11.3bn going to bilateral aid. A government impact assessment said in July that the government's aid cuts meant that in Africa – where half of the UK's bilateral aid goes – spending was being reduced in women's health and emergency response in countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The assessment warned that 'reductions to health spending risk an increase in disease burden and ultimately in deaths, impacting in particular those living in poverty, women, children and people with disabilities'. It also said that there would be cuts to girls' education programmes in countries including Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria and to projects encouraging women's participation in peace processes, with specific conflicts including Ukraine and Sudan supported at a reduced scale. Critics warned that scrapping the 80% commitment could compound the impact of the US and UK aid cuts and exacerbate what feels like 'a global war on women'. Labour has promised to prioritise women and girls in government including by promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights abroad, and tackling gender-based violence. Harriet Harman, the former acting Labour leader, was appointed UK special envoy for women and girls in March 2025. Sarah Champion, the Labour chair of the international aid committee, said: 'The UK's commitments to women and girls are not just words on a page, they're a lifeline that gives hope to some of the poorest and most vulnerable on the planet. 'The Trump administration immediately cut all international maternal and reproductive health support, and just last month, burned contraception it had bought for low-income countries. Now is the time for the UK to step up our commitment to gender programming, not step away. 'When we look at conflicts, climate impact and nutrition it is always women and girls who bear the brunt. Our aid programming gives them hope and opportunities in what feels like a global war on women. We can't take that away from them now.' Alex Farley, a policy manager at Bond, the UK network for NGOs, said that 'at a time when women's rights globally are under attack and the US has been gutting all gender equality and diversity programming, it's definitely very worrying to see the UK following suit.' 'Gender equality programming has already been put at disproportionate risk in the government's cuts to UK aid. Upholding the 80% commitment, alongside stand-alone gender programmes, is really important for the UK to send a signal showing that it's committed to tackling gender inequality rather than stepping back.' Amelia Whitworth, head of policy, campaigns and youth at Plan International UK said: 'Anti-gender movements are growing, humanitarian and climate crises are intensifying, and girls and women are being hit hardest. In a world where girls' rights are being rolled back, the UK has to hold the line. 'With USAID slashing over 80% of its programmes – including funding for gender and DEI initiatives – and European donors retreating, the need for the UK to uphold its gender equality commitments has never been greater.' An FCDO spokesperson confirmed that the government was 'carefully reviewing the viability of existing commitments' after cutting aid spending to 0.3%. 'As the foreign secretary has said, women and girls are a fundamental priority,' the spokesperson said. 'From appointing a dedicated special envoy for women and girls to improving energy access for 15 million women worldwide, the UK has demonstrated how integrating gender equality into its international work can transform lives. We will continue to champion the rights of women and girls globally and ensure that gender equality is embedded across all the department's priorities.'
Telegraph
34 minutes ago
- Telegraph
MoD refuses to say if Chagos deal counts toward defence spending
The Ministry of Defence has refused to say whether the Chagos Islands deal will count toward its Nato spending target. Labour ministers repeatedly faced questions over whether the £35bn agreement, described as a 'surrender deal' by critics, would be included as part of the newly announced goal of spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035. The Chagos deal was announced earlier this year as part of a large settlement with Mauritius, which claims sovereignty over the archipelago. Opponents said counting the Chagos payments towards the Nato total would undermine the credibility of the pledge, allowing ministers to claim they were spending more on defence without providing additional resources for the Armed Forces. 'Creative accounting' James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, accused the Government of 'smoke and mirrors', adding that counting the sum towards the target would be 'a total con'. He told The Telegraph: 'With the threats we face, the UK needs to urgently increase defence spending. But this needs to be actual money for our Armed Forces, not smoke and mirrors. 'If Labour were to include the cost of Chagos in their declared Nato spend, that wouldn't just be creative accounting but a total con on the British public, inflating apparent defence spending with a £35bn commitment that makes us weaker. 'Labour must come clean on whether this massive waste of taxpayer's money will be included in our Nato spend.' Asked whether the Chagos payments would count towards the Nato total, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) directed The Telegraph towards an answer given in the House of Lords by Baroness Chapman, a Foreign Office minister. She told peers: 'The payments to Mauritius will be split between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the MoD. The Nato qualifying status of these costs will be considered in the usual way.'
