AN agricultural building in countryside near Raglan will be allowed to remain despite objections from the public.
Kate Mobbs-Morgan asked Monmouthshire County Council for approval for a single storey 14 metres long and 3.6m wide outbuilding clad in metal sheeting and timber which would include a utility room.
She has 7.2 hectare smallholding of four working horses, 36 ewes and 24 lambs, on land accessed from the Llandenny Walks Road.
The application had to be decided by the planning committee due to the level of objections with members of the public claiming the building is “residential in appearance” and is visible from the Llandenny Walks Road to the south of it.
Others questioned if the building was needed, as a caravan has previously been used, and how effective screening of the building would be as an existing hedgerow was described as “unkempt”.
Raglan Community Council said the building wasn’t part of any agricultural unit so shouldn’t be approved in the open countryside.
Monmouthshire’s planning department said there was no unacceptable impact on the landscape or biodiversity and that it complied with its planning policies.
Planning officer Amy Longford asked the committee to consider the retrospective application as one for a new building.
She said: “It has been erected and is nearly finished. The application is in part retrospective but you are asked to consider it as if the work has not started.”
The committee unanimously approved the application.
