ONE of Newport’s most derelict pubs which has been left to become an ‘eyesore’ will be demolished and replaced by housing.

Newport council’s planning committee voted to grant planning permission for 10 affordable homes on the site of the former Centurion Inn in Heather Road.

The development would contain six two-bedroom flats, two two-bedroom houses and two three-bedroom houses, with 14 onsite parking spaces.

South Wales Argus: How houses on the Centurion Inn site could look once completedHow houses on the Centurion Inn site could look once completed

Attempts to find someone to take over and reopen the pub have proven unsuccessful, according to council planning officers.

A petition asking the council to ‘Save the Cent’ had been signed by more than 600 people, with the St Julians and Beechwood Conservative Group also raising road safety concerns.

READ MORE: Figures on the pubs lost in Newport since 2010

But committee members agreed on March 6 that the proposed scheme would regenerate the site and provide much-needed housing in the area.

Councillor John Guy said: “It’s a pity to see a pub disappearing but there’s no takers unfortunately.

“If it’s left any [longer] it becomes an eyesore and it gets vandalised. The development looks pretty good, fits in well and is something needed in the community.”

South Wales Argus: Protesters outside The Centurion in Newport after developers bought the pub to build houses.Protesters outside The Centurion in Newport after developers bought the pub to build houses.

Concerns were raised by Councillor David Fouweather that the flats fell short of the council’s supplementary planning guidance for flat conversion.

But development manager Sally Davies said the council’s own policy related to ‘walk-up’ apartments and not the ‘common access’ apartments proposed.

“We’ve actually set a higher standard that hasn’t actually taken into account the common access flats, but they do meet completely with Welsh Government standards,” she added.

READ MORE: Newport City Council decides Centurion pub will be demolished

Ms Davies also told councillors that each house would be offered for rent to those on the common housing register in the first instance, but the option to invest in those properties through low cost home ownership could be explored in the future.

The council had declared the Centurion site surplus in October 2018, less than a year since the pub was closed and put up for sale – with the condition that it remains a pub.

When it became apparent there was no interest to continue the venture, the lease was bought for £145,000 by P and P Builders, the developer behind the housing scheme.