PLANS to build a hotel and spa in Monmouth were granted approval despite continued objections from National Resources Wales (NRW) on flooding risks.

Monmouthshire County Council had approved the outline application in May subject to further flood modelling exercises between the organisations and the applicant, Alchemy Hospitality Management Limited.

The proposed 60-bedroom hotel, with six hotel apartments and a spa, would be built on the Hadnock Road Industrial Estate.

Council officers had previously recommended that the committee refuse the application due to the possibility a one in a 100-year flood of the nearby River Wye would present “an unacceptable level of risk to visitors and staff".

However the applicant had disputed these findings and consider that they have produced a model, which was scoped with NRW and completed accordingly.

A council report claims that the development could generate £1.6 million in the local economy according to the Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (STEAM).

The development will also reportedly produce 300 construction jobs and 154 full-time jobs after construction.

Similarly to the last meeting in May, the planning committee voted unanimously in favour of the application subject to conditions and a Section 106 agreement.

Councillor Liz Hacket Pain, who is ward member for Wyesham,told the committee that the economic benefits "outweighed" the flooding concerns.

"There is a great need in Monmouth for jobs and this will bring jobs to the area," said Cllr Hacket Pain.

"It will also bring an awful lot of benefits to the areas as far as tourism and promoting Monmouth in a way that can only be good for the town."

Fellow Monmouth councillor Bob Hayward was in agreement, saying that the "well-supported" project would lend "aesthetic" benefits to an "unsightly area" of Monmouth.

Cllr Hayward added: "I haven’t met anybody in the town with objections to it. To quibble about two or three millimetres [of water] is just being churlish."

Councillor Alan Wintle said: "NRW’s supposed to be supporting tourism but for some peculiar reason they’re reluctant to pass this.

"This site you’re going to get water around it but not sufficiently high enough that is going to cause trouble."