MONMOUTHSHIRE planners have overturned the authority's own recommendation to grant planning permission to build a pair of two storey semi-detached dwellings on a car park adjacent to the now closed Llanfoist Primary School.

Llanfoist Fawr Community Council, which has set aside £20,000 for the purchase of the former school playing field objected to the bid saying that the whole area should be looked at as a whole as the land was part of their local initiative to keep the area as an open space.

County Councillor Martin Hickman, the local ward member, agreed with the community council and told the Monmouthshire planning committee on Tuesday that it was essential that the wider view should be given consideration.

"The community council has set aside the funds to purchase the land, but it has been warned that this may not be possible because Monmouthshire County Council intends to build on part of it," said Councillor Hickman

This feeling was echoed by Councillor James George who said, "Whilst I appreciate what this authority is trying to do in raising as much as it can from the land, I also have sympathy with the community council's suggestion that this application should not be looked at in isolation but considered as a whole."

Councillor Peter Clarke pointed out that he would struggle to park in the places provided for each proposed house as they were so small.

"I feel we are allowing too many cheap and boring houses to be built that have been devised with a computer aided programme with no real thought given to design.

"It puts this planning authority in a poor light if we continue to accept poorly designed housing. It should be a natural thing to devise a scheme to make a design look as good as possible and not rely on a computer to do it for us."

The application was refused by seven votes to four on the grounds of its design with one abstention. The application will come before planners again next month so they can ratify their decision.