Clients: Newport City Council and Monmouthshire County Council

The Gwent Levels Accommodation project covered the rural area in Monmouthshire and Newport – from the River Rhymney to the Wye and bounded by the M4 to the north. The Gwent Levels are environmentally, historically and archeologically unique in Wales with multiple statutory landscape protections.

PSC was commissioned by Monmouthshire County Council and Newport City Council to address the shortage of visitor accommodation and to support development of the Gwent Levels as a sustainable tourist destination, which has been identified in the Destination Development Plan for the Gwent Levels.

There were a number of challenges because of the nature of the landscape including restrictions through the planning process both for new build and conversion/extension of existing provision.

As part of the project tasks we:

• Identified and considered innovative and environmentally adapted accommodation to suit the landscape
• Consulted with Newport City Council and Monmouthshire County Council planners and relevant statutory agencies to obtain a full understanding of permissible accommodation
• Identified best practice examples of additional accommodation provision in similar landscapes
• Carried out an audit of current visitor accommodation (capacity, type, quality and location) against target markets identified in the Gwent Levels Destination Plan.
• Identified potential barriers (financial, time, resources, physical, process) to the development of visitor accommodation and developed proposed solutions
• Identified potential capital funding schemes to support the development of visitor accommodation

How can we help?
If you have any questions about developing a new visitor accommodation business or reviewing options for an existing accommodation business or would like to discuss our work please don’t hesitate to call Richard Linington on 023 9248 1999 or email richard@pslplan.co.uk