GROSMONT Community Council is unhappy over the way that a planning application in the village was dealt with by Monmouthshire County Council reports ANDY SHERWILL.

The development at Wild Acre is in full view of 12th century Grosmont Castle and has been dubbed the new manor house. The growing construction has angered some villagers, which was voted last month as one of the best places in Britain to live.

Chairman of the council Councillor Vernon Jones told members at Monday's meeting that the problem did not rest with the owners of Wild Acre, as they had adhered to all the rules.

"The problem is with Monmouthshire County Council," he said.

"A lot of the administration around this application is poor and it appears that Cadw, the Welsh Heritage body, has no record of being consulted on this application because of its proximity with Grosmont Castle.

"We have requested a children's playground, a car park and even a bench on separate occasions but Cadw refused each time."

Councillor Andrew Farr said: "We are not experts and as part of the planning consultation process we passed this application ourselves as the proximity of the castle was not made clear on the plans.

"I don't see what we can do as the owner has gone through the correct procedures. Perhaps local residents should have been more vocal at the time instead of when it's too late."

Clerk to the council Bob Wilcox told members "The enforcement officers came out to look at the site and said that it was being built according to the approved plans, but they could only find fault with the retaining wall which was fractionally too high."

Councillor Lynne Potter said: "Monmouthshire council has failed us, Cadw has failed us and both are our guardians when it comes to development.

"We have made great efforts in trying to improve the village, but we always get turned down by these bodies."

The council allowed members of the local community to speak in a public session and local resident Tony Hounsome said: "This is effectively the biggest development in the community for 10 years and it appears that Monmouthshire County Council and Cadw cannot get their acts together to stop a large development such as this from going ahead. For me it's a classic case of maladministration."

Councillor Jones agreed and added: "This situation has enraged the village and in this instance it's not just nimbyism, it does affect us all.

"The building is here to stay. It's not going to be knocked down. We have to face facts - the owner has observed the rules. If nothing else we have learned a vital lesson here and we need to be more vigilant in the future. We will be writing to the local authority to voice our concerns."