A town council in Gwent has recommended that an application to demolish a row of garages to make way for apartments is given the green light by Monmouthshire County Council.

The future of the garages, on St Andrew’s Crescent, in Abergavenny, is hanging in the balance after Abergavenny Town Council considered the application at a meeting of its Environment Committee, and recommended approval on this occasion.

However, that body hasn’t got the power to make the final decision. Such authority resides with Monmouthshire County Council, which now has to make a choice on whether to allow the project to take hold.

The proposal is for the demolition of the garages to make way for four walk-up apartments with associated parking and works.

The application itself was validated on Christmas Eve in 2020, with unforeseen circumstances including the Covid-19 pandemic significantly delaying the process of approving the application and getting work underway, if it is approved.

However, The County Council’s Highways Department has identified concerns with the proposal and highlights several points which could hinder existing residents.

One of which is that the lane providing access to the garages also maintains rear vehicular access for five existing dwellings, and that refuse collection vehicles cannot currently use it because it is privately owned.

In public documents, it said that while it raises no objections to the site, the increased parking stress in the local area is a great concern.

“It is still the highway authority’s opinion that the proposal represents a marked increase on parking stress in the local area,” a document says.

“The applicant [should] provide additional information in the form of a recent garage audit to prove the proposal will not impact parking stress, and additional information regarding the “alternative sites” for parking in the interest of parking issues & highway safety concerns.”