AN OUTLINE planning application for a housing estate with up to 370 new homes in Monmouth will be heard by Monmouthshire councillors at a meeting next Tuesday.

The application for land on Wonastow Road, to the west of the Wonastow Road Industrial Estate, includes 6.5 hectares of employment land.

In line with Monmouthshire council guidelines, 35 per cent of all the housing on the estate would be affordable housing. It would make up some of the 4,500 residential units the council must build as part of its Local Development Plan before 2021.

The plan has been recommended for refusal by Monmouth town council, who gave 20 reasons for their opposition. Among those they said the development should be considered as a full application and not an outline application, and that there is a lack of facilities, including schools, shops and play areas, for any development.

Any further detail about dormice, barn owls and nesting birds, which have been found living on or near the site, will be dealt with later at the reserved matters stage.

In July 2011 councillors discussed a plan for the same land for two hours after some members raised their fears of flooding at the site.

Since the application was raised last May there have been 20 representations, raising concerns of the lack of drainage and possibility of flooding from Wonastow Brook. But council officers have said the application would also improve existing drainage problems on Wonastow Road as well as alleviate any flooding worries on the development.

The Monmouth District Chamber of Trade and Commerce has objected to the plan on the grounds that it would create a satellite of the town and that “new residents will not become involved” in the town, would shop out of town and that the 30 minute walk to Monmouth Comprehensive School would be too dangerous.

But Monmouthshire council officers have said the site is acceptable in principle and forms a key part of the housing and employment provision for its LDP.