• CONTENTS
• List of Policies
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Maps
• Introduction
• Part I Strategy & Policies
• Strategy
• Policies
• Part II Detailed Policies & Justification
• 1 Sustainability Appraisal
• 2 The Environment
• 3 Design
• 4 Housing
• 5 Industry and Employment
• 6 Rural Economy
• 7 Tourism
• 8 Shopping
• 9 Movement
• 10 Conservation of the Historic Environment
• 11 Countryside
• 12 Nature Conservation
• 13 Recreation & Leisure
• 14 Community Facilities
• 15 Minerals
• 16 Waste Planning Management
• 17 Implementation & Monitoring
• Appendix 1: Cadw Register of Landscapes, Parks & Gardens
• Appendix 2: Licensed Non-landfill Waste Facilities
• Glossary

7 Tourism

Tourism Objectives

1. To encourage the provision of high quality tourist attractions, facilities and accommodation whilst safeguarding the environment and the interests of local communities.

7.1 THE TOURISM ECONOMY

7.1.1 Tourism development is very important to the County’s economy. Tourist spend in Monmouthshire amounted to £87.6 million in 2001 and provided employment for some 2,284 people or approximately 9% of all employed. In rural areas tourism can enhances significantly the viability of core services, including village post offices and inns and can also provide important local employment.

7.1.2 Tourism, particularly with its close links with leisure, is a dynamic, fast changing industry, which needs to be able to respond to market demands and competition, whilst also respecting local communities and safeguarding the environment. Whilst the Council has adopted a positive stance in encouraging and promoting tourism, it recognises that the development of the County’s tourist potential can contribute to traffic congestion, footpath erosion at beauty spots, pressure on services and other associated problems. Therefore, tourism developments need to be planned and managed in a sustainable way in order to ensure that the positive benefits are not outweighed by their negative impacts. The ‘Caerwent Initiative’ is a good example of this, where it has been possible to achieve a balance between achieving an attractive tourist destination, protecting the archaeological heritage and improving the living environment for the residents of Caerwent.

7.1.3 Monmouthshire is the ‘gateway’ to Wales and is very accessible to the main population centres of both Wales and England. It has a rich heritage, especially Roman and Medieval, including such well-known attractions as Tintern Abbey, Caldicot, Raglan and Chepstow Castles. The county can also boast of its three historic market towns, beautiful scenery along the Vale of Usk and Wye Valley and a host of recreational and leisure provision, including internationally renowned golfing, racecourse and restaurant facilities. Whilst there is considerable potential for Monmouthshire to accommodate the short-break holiday market, only a small proportion of the total visitors it receives stay in local accommodation, due to a shortage of bed space and insufficient investment in a range of hotel accommodation. Throughout Monmouthshire there is considerable potential for seeking added value from the tourist industry through, for example, the use of local visitor accommodation, restaurants and other local facilities. Less tangibly, a successful tourist economy will also promote the image of the County to a wider audience, and encourage further investment in Monmouthshire.

7.1.4 A key aim of the UDP and the Council’s Local Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan 2004-2008 is to encourage and promote the growth of high quality sustainable tourism as a County-wide, all season activity. Encouraging tourism in a sustainable way requires the management of the environment so that development will not damage or prejudice the future enjoyment of, or bring unacceptable impacts upon the resource that attracts the visitor in the first place. Proposals, which would enhance such attractions, for the visitor and the host community, will be encouraged. Particular control will be exercised where proposals would adversely affect designations of landscape, nature conservation and historic value.

7.2 VISITOR ACCOMMODATION WITHIN SETTLEMENTS

7.2.1 The development of tourist accommodation within towns and villages can play a key role in contributing towards the vitality and viability of an existing settlement. When developed within such locations, hotels, motels, inns, guesthouses and self-catering accommodation can bring benefits for the local community and help support amenities and activities of benefit to both residents and tourists, particularly when in rural locations.

7.2.2 In encouraging tourism accommodation, control will be exercised to preclude schemes which are unsympathetic to designated areas or buildings. Many historic buildings are used for tourist accommodation, and carefully designed extensions can be achieved without adversely affecting their historic fabric or character. Large-scale buildings in a small-scale setting, buildings which break prominently into the skyline, and those which by their design, materials, illumination or building line are out of sympathy with neighbouring and/or historic buildings will normally be unacceptable. The upgrading, or change of use, of a property can also maintain an historic building in a viable use and bring life back to otherwise redundant or obsolete buildings.

7.2.3 Moderately sized extensions to an existing hotel, inn or guest houses, including the addition of bedroom accommodation, can help ensure the future viability of such businesses, providing it is in scale and character with its surroundings.

7.2.4 Proposals for new tourist accommodation will also need to take into account the amenity of the nearby residents. Noise, smells and illuminations associated with such developments can have adverse impacts upon local communities and their environment and careful consideration of the scale, frequency and timing of such impacts will be balanced against the overall benefits of the proposal. The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) recognises the potential of using the site of, or building associated with, hotels and public houses to meet the needs of locals and tourists. Consideration will be given to such proposals, taking into account the impact upon the amenity of nearby residents where proposals are likely to attract significant numbers of people at any one time.

7.2.5 Car parking and access requirements may vary according to the scale and type of activity for which new tourist accommodation is intended, and its location. Within settlements, the amount of parking provided should also to be related to public transport facilities. Access and waiting areas should be designed to avoid congestion and minimise turning movements.

7.2.6 A bedspace survey was conducted by Monmouthshire County Council in 2002 to show the level of serviced, self-catering and caravan/camping accommodation available within Monmouthshire. The ‘Monmouthshire Bedstock Survey 2002’ revealed that there is generally a good range of accommodation types within each tourist area with a 28% increase in the total number of bedspaces available between 1995 and 2002. However, there is a trend towards a decreasing number of hotel, motel and inn bed spaces in the Abergavenny and Monmouth areas. Monmouth is an area which is considered deficient in this type of serviced accommodation and, given its favoured location within the Wye Valley; the development of further tourist accommodation in this area is seen as a priority. Favourable consideration will also be given to the development of new hotel facilities within the town of Abergavenny, in accordance with the policies of this Plan. In Chepstow, the level of bed & breakfast and guesthouse accommodation has declined since the previous bedspace survey. Consequently, favourable consideration will also be given to proposals which increase the stock of these types of accommodation.

7.3 VISITOR ACCOMMODATION OUTSIDE SETTLEMENTS

7.3.1 In light of the above new-build hotel proposals, and opportunities for new-build self-catering accommodation, development will not be allowed in the open countryside, the protection of which is fundamental to the tourism industry. The change of use and extension of existing buildings, especially buildings of historical importance and requiring a viable new use, will be preferable to free standing new tourist accommodation. In order to contribute towards the diversification of the rural economy, as per Policy RE2, the substantial rebuild of an existing property will only be allowed where the building is grouped with an existing and occupied property, for example, an outbuilding adjacent to a farm or dwelling. Where substantial rebuilding is permitted, the Council will impose conditions restricting the use to tourist accommodation only, and will remove permitted development rights for extensions.

7.3.2 The proposed new edge-of-settlement hotel at Croft-y-Bwlla near Monmouth is identified. Monmouth town has extended in this area because adverse landscape impacts could be minimised, whilst an edge-of-settlement location can also offer employment and other economic benefits to Monmouth. Should additional hotel accommodation be sought outside town and village development boundaries, then the conversion of existing buildings, including mansions such as the Hendre and Piercefield, and the sympathetic extension of existing enterprises, would best meet these requirements. The Council also has a long-standing commitment to the development of self-catering development at the Hendre, and will allow other schemes, subject to the above criteria, where they are related to existing and well established tourism enterprises. The continuation of this approach, together with the favourable consideration of the conversion of redundant buildings to such uses, provides ample opportunity for the further development of the self-catering sector in the countryside. This should preclude any need for further new-build which would run contrary to the strict control of new housing in the open countryside.

7.3.3 The WAG advises that the conversion of redundant buildings into holiday accommodation, where conversion to residential dwellings would not be permitted, may reduce the pressure on other housing in rural areas. Such permissions may be granted with a condition specifying use as holiday accommodation only. A holiday occupancy condition would seem more appropriate than a seasonal occupancy condition where the need is to reduce pressure on local services. Authorities should continue to use seasonal occupancy conditions to prevent the permanent residential use of accommodation, which, by the character of its construction or design, is unsuitable for continuous occupation, especially in the winter months. Seasonal occupancy conditions may also be appropriate to protect the local environment, for example, where the site is near a habitat that requires protection at particular times of year.

7.4 NEW TOURIST FACILITIES

7.4.1 The provision of activity centres relates to both sport-orientated and educational facilities which are of benefit to local residents and tourists alike. Any retail element in a development proposal, which is not ancillary to the main tourism use, will be considered against the relevant Shopping policies of this Plan. In order to protect the open countryside, there will be a presumption against complete new-build, unless it can be demonstrated that the lack of facilities is harming the rural economy and no buildings suitable for conversion exist in the locality. New-build extensions to existing enterprises may be favourably considered, together with the conversion of existing residential and redundant buildings. Pony trekking and horse riding centres proposals will have to be assessed in terms of the capacity of bridleway networks, as well as the impact of the centre.

7.4.2 Llandegfedd Reservoir is also an important tourist asset, the use of which could be enhanced by the provision of improved and additional facilities. These would need to be carefully sited to minimise adverse impacts on the landscape and SSSI area, even if this involved incorporating/replacing existing untidy buildings.

7.5 TOURING CARAVAN AND TENTED CAMPING SITES

7.5.1 Sites which are occupied, on a short-term basis, by mobile caravans and tents may be licensed in accordance with the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 or the Public Health Act 1936, if planning permission has been granted under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Sites for up to 5 caravans are exempt from the requirements of these Acts by the issue of certificates from one of three ‘exempted’ organisations, such as the Caravan Club. Temporary sites may also be allowed under ‘permitted development’ and this status applies to:

1. the use of a site for an unlimited number of tents for up to 28 days in any 12 month period;
2. the use of a site for up to 3 caravans for up to 28 days in any 12 month period if on a holding of not less than 5 acres; and
3. Caravan ‘rallies’ of unlimited size and frequency lasting up to 5 days and supervised by one of over 50 ‘exempted organisations’.

7.5.2 The County has many such temporary facilities. The latest information illustrated in the ‘Monmouthshire Bedstock Survey 2002’ indicates that there are 4040 bed spaces in formal touring caravan/camping sites, with good geographical coverage.

7.5.3 The Council accepts that camping is an important part of tourism but is concerned that too many caravans, in particular, can be greatly detrimental to the appearance and character of the area. Given the existing ‘permitted development’ for temporary and permanent formal facilities, the Council does not wish to encourage new sites unless existing capacity proves to be inadequate or there is a special need. An example of a special need would include provision for backpackers on a long distance footpath. Even then, temporary overspill or emergency accommodation for ‘peak’ weekends, or temporary overflow areas as extensions to existing sites may be the solution. Better information can also be used to direct campers to nearby sites with spare capacity. New developments will also need to address the requirements for current or future warden accommodation.

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