A DEVELOPER says he ran out of patience waiting for council planners to decide whether or not he could build houses on the site of a former hotel right opposite iconic Tintern Abbey.

Up for auction...Tintern’s Abbey Hotel.

The Abbey Hotel has since been taken over by the underwater research company DEEP, who also own the former National Diving and Activity Centre near Chepstow, with new plans to develop the site as accommodation for clients.

Huw Jones from Crickhowell withdrew his own plans for new housing opposite one of Wales’ top historic sites nearly six years after they were first put forward. 

It was thought that building four new homes could have aided the redevelopment of the derelict hotel, which has been shut for some 10 years.

DEEP’s separate plans to demolish much of the hotel’s structures and build a new hotel are currently being considered by Monmouthshire Council. 

The hotel building is unsafe and is now a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

Previously known as the Beaufort Arms, it dates from the 18th century and is in the Tintern Conservation Area and the Wye Valley National Landscape.

Tintern Abbey is a grade I listed scheduled ancient monument and the best-preserved medieval abbey in Wales.

Its remains are a mixture of building works covering a 400-year period between 1131 and 1536. Interest in the ruins developed in the 18th century  and the site was a key factor in the development of ‘Picturesque’ tourism. 

The original plan would ha e seen homes built on the hotel’s car park, while it was also intended to convert a barn at the back of the hotel to residential accommodation. 

Plans were submitted to Monmouthshire Council in November 2018, but after several objections from local residents, it still hadn’t made a decision on whether planning permission should be recommended for approval or rejected before they were officially withdrawn last week. 

Applicant Huw Jones, of Crickhowell said he ran out of patience waiting for a decision.

He owned the former Abbey Hotel at the time of the application but sold the site towards the end of 2022. 

He said: “Nothing was getting done and it was going backwards and forwards so I was frustrated and gave up.” 

The original plans submitted on Mr Jones’ behalf showed it was intended to develop four homes, two two-bedroom semi-detached houses which would have been affordable and two, four-bedroom detached houses. 

The plans were later amended to two new houses and the barn conversion which historic buildings body Cadw hadn’t objected to. 

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