A proposed £60m regeneration project on Newport’s riverfront, including more than 600 student flats and a four-star hotel, has moved a step closer with councillors expected to approve plans at a meeting later this week.
Design and planning consultancy Nash Partnership, on behalf of Fear Group, submitted an outline planning application to Newport City Council earlier this year, following a public consultation in the spring.
The scheme comprises seven multi-storey blocks including a 601-bedroom student village, 144 homes, and an 84 bedroom four-star hotel.
Health facilities, including an 800 sq ft pharmacy, are also proposed along with a convenience store and restaurant.
A total of 307 parking spaces would be provided across the development, including 152 allocated to the market flats, 60 for the student accommodation and 61 for the hotel.
The five-and-a-half acre site was last occupied by a Sainsbury’s supermarket.
Fear Group has previously been named as the preferred partner of the University of South Wales for the provision of the new city centre student accommodation by the autumn of 2017.
A report to be considered at a meeting of the council’s planning committee on Thursday (19 November) has recommended approval for the scheme, subject to the signing of a Section 106 agreement within three months of the decision.
This would secure provisions including funding for transport and education, a 35 per cent affordable housing allocation and 35 homes for senior living (over 60s).
The report said: “The proposal brings significant regeneration benefits to a derelict site clearly visible within a prominent routeway into the city.
“The scheme will offer visual enhancement from certain views, it will provide accommodation and additional local facilities; it will deliver a hotel facility, improvements to the local footpath and cycle network and it will provide areas of new public open space.
“The impact of the proposal on education, equipped areas of play and upon the highway network can be met through Section 106 contributions.”
It added that there would be a “slight adverse effect” on the grade II*-listed Newport Castle but that “the scheme’s overall benefits outweigh the small harm”.
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