PLANS for a swimming pool in the garden of a country cottage have been approved by Monmouthshire Council. 

The 4x10m pool is described as “of a size appropriate for private residential use” by the council’s planning department, and wouldn’t harm the character of the traditional two storey Yew Tree Cottage just outside Llandewi Rhydderch, east of Abergavenny. 

A new hedgerow will be created and a bat box placed in a nearby tree to meet biodiversity requirements, and the application also includes the reordering of the domestic boundaries and addition of a garden room, to serve the pool. 

Details of how backwash waste and drain-down water will be disposed will have to be agreed with the planning department before work can start after concerns raised by Natural Resources Wales.