St Paul's Church, Newport, to be converted into nine flats
The full planning application for the conversion was submitted by A. Brown, and was approved on July 3, 2025, with conditions.
A separate listed building consent application is still pending.
The church, known for its late Georgian architecture, sits adjacent to Newport city centre.
Although not within a designated flood zone, its location near the St Woolos Conservation Area has drawn interest.
The conversion will involve significant internal changes, including the installation of new partitions and staircases, as well as roof lights for the attic flat.
A notable alteration will be the replacement of stained glass windows with clear glazing.
The original stained glass will be repurposed within the building.
Externally, the building will be refurbished, and additional space will be allocated for bike and bin storage.
Previous planning applications for the site include a listed building consent for 20 flats, which was refused, and an external lighting application, which was granted.
The new development has received support from several quarters.
The Highways Authority, Environmental Health, and the Principal Heritage Officer have all expressed no objection, provided certain conditions are met.
The Senior Scientific Officer recommended car-free or ultra-low emission vehicle restrictions due to the site's proximity to an air quality management area.
The ecologist and Natural Resources Wales accepted a bat survey and noted the need for ecological enhancement measures.
The tree and landscape officers required tree protection and the use of suitable seed mix for urban meadow areas.
Heneb, the Gwent-Glamorgan Archaeological Trust, recommended Level 3 historic building recording as a condition.
Welsh Water confirmed foul drainage capacity and stipulated that no surface water should be drained to the sewer.
No public objections or representations were received.
The scheme aligns with policies promoting the sustainable reuse of vacant land and buildings.
Despite being a former community facility, the building's long-term vacancy and poor condition justified its reuse.
All units meet internal space standards.
Flat 9 in the attic has limited outlook but acceptable light and ventilation.
The lack of private outdoor space is mitigated by proximity to city centre facilities.
Contributions for affordable housing, education, and leisure, which totalled more than £115,000, were waived following an open book assessment confirming the scheme's unviability.
Conditions attached to the approval include requirements for detailed construction management, sound insulation, biodiversity enhancements, waste strategy, archaeological recording, landscaping management, and protection of historic and landscape features.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
10 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
The elite built their wealth on slavery – what can we do about it?
Obviously this did not come cheap, but its second owner, Ninian Home, had no trouble finding the means to turn this into a show-stopping stately home. As a sugar plantation owner in the West Indies he was filthy rich and wanted everybody to know it. Paxton House Trust, which holds the property for the nation, does not shy away from this shameful legacy. Instead, it has an exhibition highlighting the family's lucrative links to slavery and their plantations in Grenada. Part of the house's collection of sumptuous Georgian costumes includes a model of a black servant dressed in elegant shirt, silk waistcoat and breeches. What he and other black servants made of the Scottish Borders is not recorded; perhaps the best that can be said is that they were likely to have lived longer and more healthily here than if they had been working on a plantation. For what it's worth (very little you might say), it seems that Ninian Home was not a brutal owner. But an owner he was, one of countless great planters who made their fortunes, and passed them on, from the labour of the enslaved. Such were conditions in the West Indies – and in other colonies on the eastern seaboard of America – that so many died of disease, overwork or harsh treatment, constant transports of new slaves from Africa were required to replace them. It was an unspeakable way to make money, and yet many who did so believed themselves to be morally upstanding figures. Nor was Home a rarity among the middle and upper ranks of 18th-century Scottish society, whose houses, parks and prestige are with us still. Almost wherever you look, plantation owners and slave traders' fingerprints are all over our major institutions. Wherever there is generational privilege and power stretching back centuries, be it a bank or a justice system or an entrenched social hierarchy, you can be sure there is a direct association with enrichment from the colonies, either through slavery or oppression of other sorts. Just how complicit or rapacious Scotland has been is yet to be fully examined. This week, however, in a ground-breaking move, the University of Edinburgh published a Race Review, exploring the university's historic relationship to slavery and colonialism, and the ways in which it has benefited from these connections. Read more It's the worst kind of cut any council could make. And yet still they did it Overseen by Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, Scotland's first black professor, who died in June, the report runs to over 100 pages. Its conclusions make sobering reading. Not only did Edinburgh University receive £30m in 'philanthropic gifts' from those whose income came from tobacco, sugar and cotton plantations, but it reveals the extent to which 18th-century academics promulgated ideas of the racial superiority of whites and the inferiority, in particular, of blacks. Those of us taught to take pride in the Scottish Enlightenment, which laid the foundation for liberal democracy and rejected the stranglehold of religion, might need to adjust our lens. Edinburgh's leading thinkers, among them the philosophers Adam Ferguson and David Hume and the historian William Robertson, assumed that whites were superior. Despite heated debate, this belief was reflected in the curriculum, moulding the minds of students before they headed out into the world. Highlighting the perniciousness of these ideas, the report also investigates the university's ties to apartheid and genocide of colonised people across the globe, including the Middle East. In this respect, they single out Arthur James Balfour, the university's long-standing chancellor (1891-1930) and the architect of the Balfour Declaration. He played a pivotal role, they write, 'in establishing and maintaining a century-long process of imperial and settler-colonial rule in Palestine, resulting today in one of the longest standing colonial occupations and apartheid regimes in modern history.' The Race Report makes several recommendations for apology and reparation, and the Principal, Sir Peter Matthiessen, has pledged 'meaningful change', promising to 'learn from and repair its past'. Delivering the report, Matthiessen announced that 'we cannot have a selective memory about our past, focussing only on the historical achievements which make us feel proud.' The legacy of David Hume is proving controversial (Image: Newsquest) He's right. When you learn that even the Picts traded in slaves, you begin to realise that violent subjugation and money made from the misfortune of others underlie much of the heritage on which our nation has been built. Indeed, as the global history of colonialism shows, ruthless mistreatment of those deemed inferior is one of the most deplorable human instincts. However, Edinburgh University's critics point out that it is rather convenient to draw attention to reprehensible historic liaisons, whilst ignoring its contentious present-day alliances. The protest group Edinburgh University Staff 4 Free Speech claims that the university has 'murky relationships with organisations and governments which support modern day human exploitation'. They cite the university's 'silence' over the treatment of pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong, and its profitable ties to the Chinese government, whose persecution of Uighurs has drawn international condemnation. How many major institutions and companies have connections they would rather were not investigated too closely? Better perhaps to ask, how few don't? Where there's great wealth, there's all too often criminal ill-treatment. Today's abuses might not be as egregious in scale as in previous centuries, but there are countless ways in which to exploit workers, even in this country, let alone those with a poor human rights record. Despite our faith in public and political transparency, it's safe to assume that ill-gotten gains continue to taint public life and private philanthropy, seeping into the bedrock of our society under the guise of donations, influence, endowments and bequests. As Edinburgh University's report makes clear, it is essential to look unflinchingly at the past and face up to its ongoing legacy. We should be equally forensic and unforgiving when scrutinising the present, but that's a great deal harder.
Evening Standard
2 days ago
- Evening Standard
Reports of the death of the Sloane Ranger have been greatly exaggerated
So where are the poor Sloanes living? For the truth is that Sloane money no longer gets you very far in the inner capital — and what they do have is entirely bankrolled by the grandparents. Those who would have been living in top postcodes have been banished to the margins in Putney and Kensal Rise, and the edgier ones have found some charming Georgian townhouses in outer Islington. They are forced to put their little darlings into London private day schools — or jockey for the right address for the best state options outside the capital. Of course the younger ones are pulling together enough money for a deposit (just), but instead of a starter flat in Fulham, they're having to commute to the Sloaney Pony from Wandsworth and Southfields, and get Ubers home from Jak's or The Rex Rooms, instead of just stumbling back to the Chelsea des res.
Times
3 days ago
- Times
We built the only modern house on the village green
Frant is one of the most idyllic villages in East Sussex. Just over the border from Kent, it is dominated by period buildings — from Georgian to Arts and Crafts — and has a cricket pitch, gothic church, oast house, two pubs and a village green. Its conservation area status is no surprise. Yet overlooking the green, rising above an ancient brick wall, is an unlikely sight: a modernist house. It's the home of Ben Minifie, an architect, and his wife, Gemma, a nurse, and their children, Rupert, 14, Mae, 12, and Meg, 8. It's also the only modern house on the village green. Walking through it on a hot June afternoon, with its white minimalist aesthetic and vast sliding doors that literally bring the outside in — a bird wanders into the living room at one point — I feel as if I'm in a California Case Study house, rather than one in a quaint English village. It may not be typical, but the Minifies' story provides a lesson in how to get planning permission in a historic setting. A golden rule: don't expand the footprint. With judicious rejigging of the floor plan, Ben turned a house with three bedrooms and one bathroom into one with five bedrooms and two bathrooms. The key was making the 3,000 sq ft floor plan more efficient without adding any square footage. Before: the old chalet bungalow had a steep pitched roof and cramped dormers After: Ben opted for a flat roof to make the best use of space AGNESE SANVITO It's a far cry from their old house, a period semi in Tunbridge Wells. After Gemma had their third child in 2017, they were looking to upsize. The couple frequently went for walks in Frant and fantasised about living there, but houses were out of their price range and rarely came up for sale. One day they stumbled across an anomaly: a 1970s chalet bungalow that backed on to the village green that was up for sale. The architect in Ben liked the idea of a project, so they bought the three-bedroom fixer-upper for £690,000 with dreams of transforming it, but knew they were taking a gamble. The house was in a conservation area and in the High Weald National Landscape, with a moratorium on new-builds in the village. They would have to turn a white elephant with no insulation and a failing roof into something fit for the 21st century — without frightening the horses. However, they were smart. Before they had bought the house, they sought pre-planning advice. They asked for guidance from the planning officer, conservation officer and parish council, and took on board their feedback on everything from render colour to the shade of window frame. Even after they bought, Ben invited parish councillors around regularly. 'We got their opinion on plans. We wanted their early involvement. It's good to do any tweaks ahead of going for planning permission,' he says. There had been some new-build development in the village but it was mostly historical pastiche. Ben researched local vernacular and chose his materials accordingly. The handmade Petersen hanging tiles from Denmark evoke Arts and Crafts; the black larch cladding on the façade was a nod to nearby Tudor houses. It also helped that the existing property was built in the 1970s, not an architectural style that's treasured by planning officers. 'Our design was seen as an enhancement,' Ben says. After: the double garage was turned into a single with a new front entrance AKIRA SUEMORI FOR THE TIMES Equally important was getting the neighbours on board. 'Early communication is good and checking through the proposals to see if they've got any concerns,' Ben says. To help to win over their next-door neighbour they removed windows that overlooked them and created new angled ones that gave them privacy. To bring more light into their garden and house, they approached neighbours on both sides and offered to trim the towering hedges to half their height and maintain them, even though the trees are not actually on Ben and Gemma's property. When it came time to gain planning permission, it sailed through in eight weeks. No nimbys, no objections. The fact that they were not extending worked in their favour. 'The original rooms were really big,' Ben says. 'Almost too big. We saw an opportunity to reconfigure the floor plan in a clever way.' So instead of several big, separate rooms, they created a mixture: one open-plan one and a few smaller nooks. 'The original house was built in an almost American model, where the car was quite important,' Ben says. 'The garage was the main thing at the front of the house, and you'd walk down the side of the house to get to the entrance.' Ben turned its double garage into a single, and used the remaining space to create a front entrance, with a hall, boot room, coat storage and bench. The old side entrance was closed off and its former hall is now a study. After: the Scandi-influenced kitchen has a resin floor that looks like polished concrete AGNESE SANVITO On the old floor plan, there was a galley kitchen, dining room, living room and a playroom/downstairs bedroom. None had big windows and they felt cut off from the garden. Ben ditched the galley kitchen and created the front hall, putting the new kitchen where the playroom was at the back of the house. The kitchen, dining room and living room are linked to create one U-shaped open-plan space around a patio. There are vast sliding doors at right angles to each other, separating the open-plan space from outside. When both doors open, the house merges with the patio. As I was chatting to Ben and Gemma, a robin flew in and began hopping around on the living room floor. Another sliding door on the other side of the living room opens on to a side garden — and allowed an exit for the wandering robin. Losing a garage, or a portion of it, is a great way to gain space, especially because they're rarely used for cars any more. Losing the old playroom/bedroom and a downstairs bathroom also helped. By reconfiguring things, they've gained a utility room, a snug for TV-watching and a much bigger kitchen; the only room that stayed in the same place was the WC. They also repositioned the staircase, which allowed them to change the upstairs layout, swapping a large wide landing with three bedrooms for a long thin hallway surrounded by five bedrooms and two bathrooms (one en suite). 'The bedrooms in the old house were vast but inefficient,' Ben says. In the chalet bungalow the old bedrooms had sloped ceilings and dormers. To gain more usable space, Ben swapped the pitched roof for a flat one — giving the bedrooms straight walls — and made the ceilings feel higher by leaving the beams exposed. Ben believes big bedrooms are pointless when all you need is a decent-sized bed and some storage. Flat-roof technology has moved on from the bad old leaky days: this one has a rubber membrane and tapered angle so water drains into invisible rain pipes. The house has been replumbed, rewired and re-insulated with rockwool, and given new Velfac windows. Three rooflights have been added, as well as a double-storey window in the hallway. The ground floor has a resin floor that looks like polished concrete, but is more durable and not as thick (22mm, including underfloor heating, versus 100mm), which makes the ceilings feel higher. After: flat-roof technology has moved on from the bad old leaky days AGNESE SANVITO The flat roof meant they lost eaves storage, but they have crammed new storage under the stairs and hidden in walls behind push-click doors. The remaining garage is also used for storage. They saved money by rebuilding the first floor using timber-frame construction, rather than blockwork. For the Scandi-influenced kitchen, instead of buying a designer brand like DeVol, they bought carcasses from a trade supplier and got the joiner James Christopher to make the oak cupboards, dining table and bench. Ben reckons they saved £15,000 doing it this way. The living room AGNESE SANVITO Sliding doors separate the open-plan space from outside AGNESE SANVITO The budget came to £550,000. Even though they haven't added any square footage, Ben had the house valued and says they've come out slightly ahead financially. 'We didn't do this to make money,' Gemma says. 'It was to live somewhere that we really wanted to live and get a comfortable house. And we didn't want to extend because the garden's not huge and we didn't want to lose it. But we're hugely lucky because we go out of the gate and we're straight on to the village green.' The secret to their success was blending in rather than standing out. 'We wanted it to complement this gorgeous place and actually be a cool addition rather than just plonk something contemporary on the village green,' Gemma says. 'I'm trying to think of other pretty, historic villages where there's a contemporary house right in the middle. I don't think there are that many. I feel pretty lucky that we've been able to do it.'
