Planning Permission

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:33 pm on 18 June 2019.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 1:33, 18 June 2019

First Minister, a similar point made by Delyth Jewell. [Interruption.] I hope I'm not causing the crying upstairs. [Interruption.] No, it's not my baby; I hope not anyway. [Laughter.]

Troy House in Monmouth is a grade II listed property, dating back to the seventeenth century, located in the Mitchel Troy ward in Monmouthshire. It's been in a poor state of decline for many years. It's been a hospital at different points in time, it's been a school, and it's currently empty. Monmouthshire County Council approved planning permission to save the building and convert it into flats, but the decision has been overturned by the Welsh Government inspector on the grounds of it being on a flood plain. Now, I know you're probably not going to be able to go into the details of that application, and I'm not asking you to, but if you've got a situation where you've got a grade II listed building that is declining each year, in a serious state of disrepair and there is a plan of some sort on the table to try and restore that building, then there's obviously great concern when the Welsh Government says that that can't go ahead. What can you do? What safeguards can you put into the planning process to make sure that, okay, when issues like this are overturned by the Welsh Government, there is protection in place to make sure that a listed building isn't simply allowed to fall into ruin and be lost to the nation?