RESIDENTS objecting a proposed housing development on land opposite Nevill Hall Hospital claim existing sewage problems will become a health hazard if plans are passed.

Plans for 40 units by Charles Church development and Asbri Planning Ltd are due to go before Monmouthshire County Council's planning committee this month.

The site, at the Knoll, just off the A40 used to house paddocks. Residents are objecting to the development saying it will add to the already escalating sewerage problems.

David Jenkins, a retired engineer and his wife Pat have lived in Brecon Road for nine years. Mr Jenkins says the drainage system is "totally inadequate" and has been blocked with backed up sewage on many occasions over the past couple of years.

He and around 18 residents who have sent objections to the council, say that among sewage problems, they are worried about the road affecting Nevill Hall Hospital patients and visitors.

He said, "There was objections from a lot of people in and around the area, including some strong objections from the local health authority.

"As soon as there is heavy rain the road and the gully connected to the sewer blocks up and pushes it onto the road. It is flooded for anything from 50 to 80 yards."

Mrs Jenkins says on numerous occasions she has been forced to walk through the sewage and floods to get over the road.

"I have to walk in it to get over the road and it is very unpleasant. You are literally walking through sewage. It's in the hedge rows and fences - just imagine another 40 homes into that system," she said.

The planned entrance to the proposed site is about 40 yards from the Nevill Hall junction, opposite the bus stop.

Mr Jenkins said, "The Knoll area is serviced by the 9 inch sewerage pipe which borders the field. Originally Welsh Water said they didn't have the capacity for it. The pipe is already up to capacity and can't accept anymore, that's what they said in the beginning.

"Then they said if the rain water was diverted from the roof of Knoll House, that would release enough capacity to take sewerage away from the 40 houses which is absolutely ludicrous. So now Welsh Water have taken that position. We know from experience that the pipe is up to capacity. If they allow them to connect we will have the same system and problems as those living in Llanfoist.

"The savings that Welsh Water would obtain from diverting rain water compared to sewage requirements for 40 houses is 20 times in arrears.

"It is simply too small a field for 40 houses they will be like matchboxes and there will be 80 cars coming and going from there a least. The junction is already difficult. This affects the whole of Abergavenny, the A40 is a major road and we want to stress that it will affect the whole town."

The field, which used to house paddocks, is used mainly by ramblers and dog walkers.

"Obviously we don't want it to go-ahead but if it did we would ant the number of houses reduced, they will just be cramming them in. We want to try and stop Welsh Water, it's a bureaucratic juggernaut. We want to stop them doing what happened to residents in Llanfoist. We don't want to be a second Llanfoist," said Mr Jenkins.

"It's about quality of life, this sewage could become a health hazard, sewage outside a hospital is not a good thing," he added.

"Really there should be no more connections in Abergavenny until they are prepared to spend £30m to upgrade the system and there is nothing in the budget for improvements. These are village sized lumps they are developing in our town with no improvements to the infrastructure, that's just causing problems. The are putting the town out of balance."

An ecological site appraisal statement saidthree species of bat use the site for foraging and commuting.

In a letter from Gwent Healthcare Trust who oppose the scheme in highways grounds, they state, " The land lies opposite Nevill Hall Hospital. The main entrance is from the brecon Road and provides primary access for patients, visitors, emergency admission and transfers by ambulance. The proposed entrance to the site is very close and gives rise to concern over the highways arrangements for access to the new development. This section of road is very busy, especially at peak periods and difficulties are already experienced at times resulting from queues of cars waiting to exit the hospital.

The proposed relocation of the bus stop is unsatisfactory, it is potentially dangerous due to the potential for traffic to back up behind a stationary bus, which will cause problems for access and patients, staff and emergency vehicles. The trust also has concerns regarding the disposal of both foul and surface water."

Rhodri Davies, senior planner for Asbri Planning Ltd said the application was put forward last November and they had done a lot of work to comply with all regulations, "We are in pre-application discussions with the planning department and highways. We resolved issues regarding the new access of the trunk road with transport Wales.

"There's no issues with us, we had our engineers to have a look at it and they are satisfied from a drainage point of view that it's all fine. We had one letter sent to us this week, even though the plans were put in a year ago, complaining about a capacity issue. From our point of view the system we are putting in is better than what is there. The 40 units will not have a detrimental impact on the system."

Mr Davies said they plan to improve the access situation by installing traffic calming, narrowing the road and moving the bus stop.

Abergavenny Town Councill has approved the proposed housing development.