HEARINGS to examine a plan that sets out where 2,000 new homes should be built are to get under way next week.

Monmouthshire’s replacement local development plan is meant to identify land for new housing and employment sites as well as which areas are protected from development.

The plan has to be independently examined to ensure it meets with Welsh planning policy and is judged to be “sound” so that it can be adopted as the county council’s planning policy through to 2033.

The council, which has been working on the plan in its current form for the past four years, will present it to the two independent inspectors at a public hearing that opens on Tuesday, September 8 at 10am.

There are due to be 12 hearing dates during September and October when the inspectors will question the council on the plan’s aims and protections for the environmentally sensitive rivers Usk and Wye in light of updated Welsh guidance.

Hearings will continue on Wednesday and Thursday before resuming on Tuesday, September 15 for a further three days with hearings also due from Tuesday, September 29 and Tuesday, October 6.

All the hearing sessions will be held virtually with all participants taking part online and the public are able to view the sessions online.

It had been intended the hearings would be held in June and July but a dispute between the independent examiners, appointed by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales, and the council over how the hearings were publicised caused the examination sessions to be pushed back until the autumn.

As a result the inspectors’ final report isn’t expected to be provided to the council until the end of March 2027.

The plan identifies four key housing sites, including 770 homes between Caldicot and Portskewett, 500 homes east of Abergavenny, more housing in Monmouth, and 146 new homes at Mounton Road in Chepstow, where a care home and hotel could also be built.

It requires 50 per cent of all new homes are affordable and is key to the Labour run council’s aim to boost low cost housing locally.

Individuals and organisations that have previously commented, or made objections to elements of the plan, will also have the chance to take part in the sessions.

Members of the public wishing to view the hearing sessions can contact the programme officer Helen Wilson on 01432 639547 or email [email protected].